How to get distinct values for non-key column fields in Laravel?

Question

This might be quite easy but have no idea how to.

I have a table that can have repeated values for a particular non-key column field. How do I write a SQL query usin

Answer 1

Grouping by will not work if the database rules don't allow any of the select fields to be outside of an aggregate function. Instead use the laravel collections.

$users = DB::table('users')
        ->select('id','name', 'email')
        ->get();

foreach($users->unique('name') as $user){
  //....
}

Someone pointed out that this may not be great on performance for large collections. I would recommend adding a key to the collection. The method to use is called keyBy. This is the simple method.

     $users = DB::table('users')
        ->select('id','name', 'email')
        ->get()
        ->keyBy('name');

The keyBy also allows you to add a call back function for more complex things...

     $users = DB::table('users')
        ->select('id','name', 'email')
        ->get()
        ->keyBy(function($user){
              return $user->name . '-' . $user->id;
         });

If you have to iterate over large collections, adding a key to it solve the performance issue.