Get Object From Collection By Attribute
laravel, mysql, php
Solution
You can use `filter`, like so:
$desired_object = $food->filter(function($item) {
return $item->id == 24;
})->first();
`filter` will also return a `Collection`, but since you know there will be only one, you can call `first` on that `Collection`.
You don't need the filter anymore (or maybe ever, I don't know this is almost 4 years old). You can just use `first`:
$desired_object = $food->first(function($item) {
return $item->id == 24;
});
Problem
In Laravel, if I perform a query: ``` $foods = Food::where(...)->get(); ``` ...then `$foods` is an Illuminate Collection of `Food` model objects. (Essentially an array of models.) However, the keys of this array are simply: ``` [0, 1, 2, 3, ...] ``` ...so if I want to alter, say, the `Food` object with an `id` of 24, I can't do this: ``` $desired_object = $foods->get(24); $desired_object->color = 'Green'; $desired_object->save(); ``` ...because this will merely alter the 25th element in the array, not the element with an `id` of 24. How do I get a single (or multiple) element(s) from a collection by ANY attribute/column (such as, but not limited to, id / color / age / etc.)? Of course, I can do this: ``` foreach ($foods as $food) { if ($food->id == 24) { $desired_object = $food; break; } } $desired_object->color = 'Green'; $desired_object->save(); ``` ...but, that's just gross. And, of course, I can do this: ``` $desired_object = Food::find(24); $desired_object->color = 'Green'; $desired_object->save(); ``` ...but that's even more gross, because it performs an additional unnecessary query when I already have the desired object in the `$foods` collection. EDIT: To be clear, you can call `->find()` on an Illuminate Collection without spawning another query, but it only accepts a primary ID. For instance: ``` $foods = Food::all(); $desired_food = $foods->find(21); // Grab the food with an ID of 21 ``` However, there is still no clean (non-looping, non-querying) way to grab an element(s) by an attribute from a Collection, like this: ``` $foods = Food::all(); $green_foods = $foods->where('color', 'green'); // This won't work. :( ```