Sort your Laravel Eloquent queries results using orderBy()

Table of contents:

• The basics of orderBy()
• Multi-column sorting using orderBy()
• Getting fancy with orderByRaw()
• Use reorder() to unorder what’s been ordered

The basics of orderBy()

Before we dive deep, let’s understand the foundation:

$users = User::query()
    ->orderBy('name', 'desc')
    ->get();

In this snippet, we’re using Laravel Eloquent to fetch users from their table and ordering them in descending order by their names.

Parameters:

• The column’s name.
• The order direction: Either asc (the default value) for ascending or desc for descending.

Multi-column sorting using orderBy()

What if you want to sort by multiple columns? Simple. Just chain multiple orderBy() methods:

$users = User::query()
    ->orderBy('name', 'desc')
    ->orderBy('email', 'asc')
    ->get();

This way, Eloquent sorts users by their names first. If two or more users have the same name, it then sorts those users by their email in ascending order.

I actually learned that after years of SQL and Laravel experience. 😅

Getting fancy with orderByRaw()

When you need a more complex sorting mechanism, Laravel’s got you covered with orderByRaw():

$orders = User::query()
    ->orderByRaw('updated_at - created_at DESC')
    ->get();

This advanced method lets you sort the results based on the difference between the updated_at and created_at timestamps. Handy, right?

Use reorder() to unorder what’s been ordered

If you need to undo the ordering of a query you are building based on some condition, you can use the reorder() method:

$ordered = User::orderBy('name');
 
$unordered = $ordered->reorder()->get();

And if you wish to reset and apply a completely new ordering without calling orderBy() again:

$ordered = User::query()->orderBy('name');
 
$reorderedByEmail = $query->reorder('email', 'desc')->get();

I’ll never get bored of Laravel’s convenience!