How to build a Searching Macro in Laravel

What is a Macro in Laravel ?

Macro is a powerful feature of the Laravel framework. Laravel Macros allow you to add custom functionality to internal Laravel components. Macros can be defined on any class with the Macroable trait.

Where to use a macro ?

If you find yourself repeating performing logic on Laravel components throughout your system, think about using a macro for better expression and reuse.

Here we will build a macro which will add search for every model on our Laravel project.

Searching macro, the Code

On the App\Providers\AppServiceProvider add a simple :

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;

// ...

Builder::macro('search', function(string $attribute, string $searchTerm) {
   return $this->where($attribute, 'LIKE', "%{$searchTerm}%");
});

Or a more advanced example :


use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;

// ...
Builder::macro('search', function($attributes, string $searchTerm) {
foreach(array_wrap($attributes) as $attribute) {
$this->orWhere($attribute, 'LIKE', "%{$searchTerm}%");
   }

return $this;
});

How to use the searching macro #

Now, if you want to add a search, to the User model but to every model, use the macro like so :

// searching a single column

User::search('name', $searchTerm)->get();

// searching on multiple columns in one go
User::query()
->search('user', 'moom')
->search('email', 'gmail')
->get();