Filtering Eloquent collection data with $collection-filter()

Question

I'm trying to filter the following collection using the collection filter() method: ``` $collection = Word::all(); ``` where the JSON output looks like this: ``` [ { "id": "1", "word": "dog", "phonetic": "dog", "mean": "pies", "assoc": "some example text", "author_id": "3", "user_id": "3" }, { "id": "2", "word": "sun", "phonetic": "sun", "mean": "słońce", "assoc": "lorem ipsun dolor sit amet", "author_id": "3", "user_id": "2" }, ... ] ``` However, when filtering the collection: ``` $filtered_collection = $collection->filter(function($item) { if($item->isDog()) { return $item; } }); ``` The filtered collection JSON output will look like this: ``` {"1": { "id": "1", "word": "dog", "phonetic": "dog", "mean": "pies", "assoc": "some example text", "author_id": "3", "user_id": "3" }, "2": { "id": "2", "word": "sun", "phonetic": "sun", "mean": "słońce", "assoc": "lorem ipsun dolor sit amet", "author_id": "3", "user_id": "2" }} ``` How can I keep the original JSON output when filtering a coll…

Accepted Answer

The collection's `filter` method calls `array_filter` on the underlying array, which, according to the PHP docs, preserves the array keys. This then results in your array being converted to a JavaScript object instead of an array.

Call `values()` on your collection to reset the keys on the underlying array:

```
$filtered_collection = $collection->filter(function ($item) {
    return $item->isDog();
})->values();
```

Side note: in newer versions of Laravel, you can use a higher order message to shorten the above into this:

```
$filtered_collection = $collection->filter->isDog()->values();
```

Filtering Eloquent collection data with $collection->filter()

Solution

Problem