Selects

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Selects
Specifying A Select Clause
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.
select
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
columns
string | array
false
​"*"
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 "*".
QueryBuilder
1
query.select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).from( "users" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT `fname` AS `firstName`, `age` FROM `users`
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distinct
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
state
boolean
false
​true
Value to set the distinct flag.
Calling distinct will cause the query to be executed with the DISTINCT keyword.
QueryBuilder
1
query.select( "username" ).distinct().from( "users" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT DISTINCT `username` FROM `users`
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distinct applies to the entire query, not just certain fields.
addSelect
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
columns
string | array
true
​
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.
QueryBuilder
1
query.addSelect( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).from( "users" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT `fname` AS `firstName`, `age` FROM `users`
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selectRaw
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
expression
any
true
​
The raw expression for the select statement.
bindings
array
false
[]
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.)
QueryBuilder
1
query.selectRaw( "YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year" ).from( "users" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year FROM `users`
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subSelect
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
alias
string
true
​
The alias for the subselect expression.
query
Function | QueryBuilder
true
​
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.
QueryBuilder
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query.subSelect( "last_login_date", function( q ) {
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    q.selectRaw( "MAX(created_date)" )
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        .from( "logins" )
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        .whereColumn( "users.id", "logins.user_id" );
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} ) ).from( "users" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT (
2
    SELECT MAX(created_date)
3
    FROM `logins`
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    WHERE `users`.`id` = `logins`.`user_id`
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) AS `last_login_date`
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FROM `users
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clearSelect
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
No arguments
​
``
​
​
Clears out the selected columns for a query along with any configured select bindings.
QueryBuilder
1
query.from( "users" )
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    .select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] )
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    .clearSelect();
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT * FROM `users`
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reselect
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
columns
string | array
false
​"*"
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.
QueryBuilder
1
query.from( "users" )
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    .select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] )
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    .reselect( "username" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT `username` FROM `users`
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reselectRaw
Name
Type
Required
Default
Description
expression
any
true
​
The raw expression for the select statement.
bindings
array
false
[]
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.
QueryBuilder
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query.from( "users" )
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    .select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] )
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    .reselectRaw( "YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year" );
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SQL (MySQL)
1
SELECT YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year FROM `users`
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Specifying A Select Clause