Laravel Checking If a Record Exists

Question

I am new to Laravel. How do I find if a record exists?

$user = User::where('email', '=', Input::get('email'));

What can I do here to see if $user has a record?

Solution 1

It depends if you want to work with the user afterwards or only check if one exists.

If you want to use the user object if it exists:

$user = User::where('email', '=', Input::get('email'))->first();
if ($user === null) {
   // user doesn't exist
}

And if you only want to check

if (User::where('email', '=', Input::get('email'))->count() > 0) {
   // user found
}

Or even nicer

if (User::where('email', '=', Input::get('email'))->exists()) {
   // user found
}

Solution 2

if (User::where('email', Input::get('email'))->exists()) {
    // exists
}

Solution 3

In laravel eloquent, has default exists() method, refer followed example.

if (User::where('id', $user_id )->exists()) {
    // your code...
}

Solution 4

One of the best solution is to use the firstOrNew or firstOrCreate method. The documentation has more details on both.

Solution 5

if($user->isEmpty()){
    // has no records
}

Eloquent uses collections. See the following link: https://laravel.com/docs/5.4/eloquent-collections

View more solutions

Comments

[Volatil3]

if you call exists() against a non existent record then it gives error: Call to a member function exists() on null

[lukasgeiter]

@Volatil3 You are doing something wrong. You can't call exists after you've already ran the query

[Volatil3]

@lukasgeiter guess you are right. I had already called first()

[Combine]

I used to use -> $email_exists = DB::table('users')->select('email')->where('email', $request->email)->count(); but your method is better :)

[jshbrmn]

alternatively, if (!User::where('email', '=', Input::get('email'))->exists())... could work

[Janaka Pushpakumara]

I think this is the better way to find if User is exists. User::where('email', '=', 'value')->count() > 0;

[Gokigooooks]

while not fitting the question, still, very useful functions. the difference between the two is that firstOrNew instantiates an instance of the model called while firstOrCreate saves the queried model instantly so you need to update changes on the firstOrCreate'd model.

[TrueStory]

If you have a table User with ...say over1,000,000,000 records, you'll be checking for a veeeeeeery long time

[Pathros]

@JanakaPushpakumara That alone has sometimes caused me error. I also add && isset()

[Agil]

exists() might be a good option too but I feel like it is not the most optimised way, is it?

[Pezhvak]

@Volatil3 i just tested ->exists() with laravel 5.5, it says false if it doesn't exist.

[Roark]

FYI, you can leave out the '=' value: User::where('email', Input::get('email'))->exists();

[user3574492]

Yeah but its not returning a collection. It's returning a single model object as you would assume each user has a unique email so ->isEmpty() will throw an error.

[Pathros]

And what if I get the following error: Call to a member function isEmpty() on null

[JustAMartin]

Why making SQL to continue counting rows with count after it has already found one? Exists is more appropriate here - it stops right after finding one match. Even if performance difference might be negligible, still it expresses the intention better.

[umarbilal]

What if you want to check for multiple row exist?

[Edgar Ortega]

You could replace find with where. User::where(id, 1)->first()

[William Turrell]

Yep, or another way of thinking of it is, use firstOrCreate if you can pass all the attributes in one go (use the second parameter), but firstOrNew if you're going to need further logic before saving.

[Peter Wolf]

Link only answers are not good answers. See "How do I write a good answer?"

[Robo Robok]

This should be the accepted answer. The most efficient and dedicated way to do it is through the exists() method.

[BonisTech]

@Pezhvak Same here with laravel 7.x

[AliN11]

Note that by using count, you are counting a certain record throughout the table. While the exists method returns true if the table contains at least one desired record.

[AliN11]

Please consider that count method counts records and it is not good performance-wise in this scenario.

[AliN11]

Fetching all records, then counting?!

[simpson]

in laravel 8.x ;exists() returns false if no row found.so it is safe to use.

[Inderjeet]

Not working with milliseconds case. Is there any way to fix this?

[Hamid Teimouri]

@AliN11 I did not use count method