You may not always want to select all columns from a database table. You can influence the select list of a query with the following methods.
Individual columns can contain fully-qualified names (some_table.some_column
), table aliases (alias.some_column
), and even set column aliases themselves (some_column AS c
). The columns
argument can be a single column, a list of columns (comma-separated), or an array of columns.
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
columns | string | array |
| | A single column, list of columns, or array of columns to retrieve. |
When calling select
any previous columns are discarded. If you want to incrementally select columns, use the addSelect
method.
If you pass no columns to this method, it will default to "*"
.
QueryBuilderquery.select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).from( "users" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT `fname` AS `firstName`, `age` FROM `users`
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
state | boolean |
| | Value to set the distinct flag. |
Calling distinct will cause the query to be executed with the DISTINCT
keyword.
QueryBuilderquery.select( "username" ).distinct().from( "users" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT DISTINCT `username` FROM `users`
distinct
applies to the entire query, not just certain fields.
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
columns | string | array |
| | A single column, list of columns, or array of columns to add to the select. |
This method adds the columns passed to it to the currently selected columns.
If the QueryBuilder
is currently selecting all columns ("*"
) when this method is called, the incoming columns will becoming the only columns selected.
QueryBuilderquery.addSelect( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).from( "users" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT `fname` AS `firstName`, `age` FROM `users`
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
expression | any |
| | The raw expression for the select statement. |
bindings | array |
|
| Any bindings needed for the raw expression. |
A shortcut to use a raw expression in the select clause.
The expression is added to the other already selected columns.
(To learn more about raw and expressions, check out the docs on Raw Expressions.)
QueryBuilderquery.selectRaw( "YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year" ).from( "users" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year FROM `users`
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
alias | string |
| | The alias for the subselect expression. |
query | Function | QueryBuilder |
| | The callback or query to use in the subselect. |
The method lets you pass either a callback or a QueryBuilder
instance to be used as a subselect expression. If a callback is passed it will be passed a new query instance as the only parameter.
The subselect is added to the other already selected columns.
QueryBuilderquery.subSelect( "last_login_date", function( q ) {q.selectRaw( "MAX(created_date)" ).from( "logins" ).whereColumn( "users.id", "logins.user_id" );} ) ).from( "users" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT (SELECT MAX(created_date)FROM `logins`WHERE `users`.`id` = `logins`.`user_id`) AS `last_login_date`FROM `users
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
No arguments | | `` | | |
Clears out the selected columns for a query along with any configured select bindings.
QueryBuilderquery.from( "users" ).select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).clearSelect();
SQL (MySQL)SELECT * FROM `users`
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
columns | string | array |
| | A single column, list of columns, or array of columns to retrieve. |
Clears out the selected columns for a query along with any configured select bindings. Then sets a selection of columns to select from the query. Any valid argument to select
can be passed here.
QueryBuilderquery.from( "users" ).select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).reselect( "username" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT `username` FROM `users`
Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
expression | any |
| | The raw expression for the select statement. |
bindings | array |
|
| Any bindings needed for the raw expression. |
Clears out the selected columns for a query along with any configured select bindings. Then adds an Expression or array of expressions to the already selected columns.
QueryBuilderquery.from( "users" ).select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).reselectRaw( "YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year" );
SQL (MySQL)SELECT YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year FROM `users`