arr::only in Laravel - PHP

Introduction

As a Laravel developer, you may have come across situations where you need to extract only a few specific keys from an array. Instead of looping through the entire array and creating a new array with only the desired keys, Laravel provides a convenient helper function called arr::only().

The arr::only() function allows you to extract only the keys that you need from an array, without changing the original array. In this article, we will discuss how to use arr::only() in Laravel and explore some of its use cases.

Syntax

The syntax for using arr::only() is straightforward. You simply pass in an array and the key or keys that you want to extract. The function returns a new array with only the specified keys.

$array = ['name' => 'John', 'age' => 30, 'gender' => 'Male'];

$newArray = arr::only($array, ['name', 'gender']);

// result: ['name' => 'John', 'gender' => 'Male'];

Use Cases

1. Selecting Specific Columns in a Database Query

You can use arr::only() to select specific columns in a database query result. For example, suppose you have a User model with fields such as name, email, password, and age. If you want to retrieve only the name and email of all users, you can use the following code:

$users = User::all(['name', 'email']);

2. Filtering Request Data

When you handle form requests in Laravel, you may receive a lot of unnecessary data that you don't need. You can use arr::only() to extract only the necessary data from the request object. Here's an example:

$data = $request->only(['name', 'phone']);

3. Removing Fields from an Array

You can also use arr::only() to remove unwanted keys from an array. Simply pass in the keys that you want to remove and apply it to the original array.

$data = ['name' => 'John', 'age' => 30, 'gender' => 'Male'];

$data = arr::only($data, ['name', 'age']);

// result: ['name' => 'John', 'age' => 30];

Conclusion

In conclusion, arr::only() is a handy function in Laravel that makes it easy to extract only the keys that you need from an array. It's a simple and efficient way to work with arrays, especially when dealing with large data sets. We hope this article has been helpful in understanding how to use arr::only() in Laravel.