Check if row exists, Laravel

Question

I have the following db structure:

items:
id, name, user_id

users table:
id, name

user_favorites table:
id, user_id, item_id

On my items perm

Answer 1

I advise you to use exists() or count() to check, not use first().

The fastest way:

$result = DB::table('user_favorites')
    ->where('user_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)
    ->where('item_id', '=', $item->id)
    ->exists();

Or:

$result = DB::table('user_favorites')
    ->where('user_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)
    ->where('item_id', '=', $item->id)
    ->count();

SQL:

select count(*) as aggregate from `user_favorites` where *** limit 1

The faster way: only select id

$result = DB::table('user_favorites')
    ->where('user_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)
    ->where('item_id', '=', $item->id)
    ->first(['id']);

SQL:

select id from `user_favorites` where *** limit 1

The normal way:

$result = DB::table('user_favorites')
    ->where('user_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)
    ->where('item_id', '=', $item->id)
    ->first();

SQL:

select * from `user_favorites` where *** limit 1