How do I get the query builder to output its raw SQL query as a string?

Blog Post: How to Retrieve the Raw SQL Query from the Query Builder in Laravel

👋 Welcome back to our tech blog! Today, we are going to address a common question that many Laravel developers face: How do I extract the raw SQL query produced by the Query Builder? 🤔

Understanding the Problem

Let's start by understanding the problem with a simple code snippet. Assume we have the following code:

DB::table('users')->get();

This code queries the "users" table using Laravel's Query Builder, but what if we want to obtain the underlying SQL query as a string? 🤷‍♀️

Solution 1: ToSql Method

Fortunately, Laravel provides a simple method called toSql() that allows us to retrieve the generated SQL query. 🌟 Here's the modified code:

$query = DB::table('users');
$sqlQuery = $query->toSql();
$results = $query->get();

By assigning the Query Builder instance to a variable ($query in this case), we can call the toSql() method to obtain the raw SQL query as a string. This way, we can store it in $sqlQuery and use it later as needed. The subsequent call to get() executes the query to fetch the results.

Solution 2: Query Log

Another approach to obtaining the raw SQL query is by utilizing the built-in query log functionality provided by Laravel. 📝 Here's how to do it:

DB::enableQueryLog();

DB::table('users')->get();

$queryLog = DB::getQueryLog();
$sqlQuery = end($queryLog)['query'];

First, we need to enable the query log by calling enableQueryLog(). Then, we execute the query using the Query Builder as usual. Once the query has been executed, we can retrieve the logged queries using getQueryLog(). The raw SQL query can be accessed from the last entry in the query log array.

Conclusion

Now that you know a couple of ways to extract the raw SQL queries, you can easily debug, analyze, or utilize them in your Laravel applications. 🚀

If you found this blog post helpful, don't forget to share it with your fellow developers! 👩‍💻👨‍💻 And if you have more questions or suggestions, leave us a comment below! We love engaging with our readers.

Happy coding! 💻✨