Learning Laravel can be daunting, and following the documentation can be confusing. In this document, I will discuss and outline how to use the updateOrInsert() method in a Laravel query builder.
Background
The updateOrInsert() method in Laravel’s query builder does two things:
- If a record already exists in a database table, it updates that record.
- If the record doesn’t exist, it inserts a new one.
This method is helpful when you want to make sure that a record is in the database and up-to-date, without having to manually check if it’s already there before updating or inserting it.
Its return type is Boolean.
Syntax
DB::table('tableName')->updateOrInsert([Conditions],[fields with value]);
How to use it
// Using the DB Method
DB::table('post')->updateOrInsert(
['id' => '10001'],
['name' => 'How to make it', 'created_at' => now()]
);
// Using the model
Posts::updateOrInsert(
['id' => '10001'],
['name' => 'How to make it', 'created_at' => now()]]
);
In this example, we’re updating or inserting a record in the posts table with a new value for the name and created_at fields, and specifies the id 10001.
If the id already exists in the posts table, the values of name and created_at fields will be replaced with the new values. If the id doesn’t exist, a new record will be added with the specified values.
The second argument in updateOrInsert() method determines whether a record exists in the database. In the above example, the id field is used to identify whether a record exists. You can use any field or combination of fields that uniquely identifies a record in the table.
