Laravel’s Eloquent ORM, you can limit the number of results returned by a query using the `limit()` method. This is useful when you want to retrieve only a specific number of records from the database.
Basic Usage of `limit()`
The `limit()` method restricts the number of rows returned by the query. Here’s an example:
$users = User::limit(5)->get();
This query will return only 5 records from the `users` table.
Example with Query
Suppose you want to fetch the latest 5 users from the `users` table:
$latestUsers = User::orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
->limit(5)
->get();
-> `orderBy(‘created_at’, ‘desc’)`: Orders the results by the `created_at` column in descending order (newest first).
-> `limit(5)`: Limits the results to 5 records.
Combining `limit()` with Other Methods
You can combine `limit()` with other Eloquent methods like `where()`, `orderBy()`, etc. For example:
//asc orderby
$activeUsers = User::where('status', 'active')
->orderBy('name', 'asc')
->limit(10)
->get();
//desc orderby
$activeUsers = User::where('status', 'active')
->orderBy('name', 'desc')
->limit(10)
->get();
This query retrieves the first 10 active users, ordered by their name in ascending order.
Using `take()` as an Alternative
The `take()` method is an alias for `limit()` and works the same way:
$users = User::take(5)->get();
Pagination Instead of Limit
If you want to paginate results instead of limiting them, you can use the `paginate()` method:
$users = User::paginate(10); // 10 records per page
This is useful for displaying results across multiple pages.
Example in a Controller
Here’s how you might use `limit()` in a Laravel controller:
```php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class UserController extends Controller
{
public function index()
{
// Fetch the latest 5 users
$users = User::orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
->limit(5)
->get();
return view('users.index', compact('users'));
}
}
Points
-> Use `limit()` to restrict the number of rows returned by a query.
-> Combine `limit()` with `orderBy()` to control the order of results.
-> Use `take()` as an alternative to `limit()`.
-> For pagination, use `paginate()` instead of `limit()`.
This is how you can use the `limit()` method in Laravel Eloquent to control the number of results returned by your queries.