How do you move the function definition for the ->when() function in Laravel Eloquent Models?

Question

I'm building a way to organize Items based on different requests:

$items = Item::query()
    ->where("type", $itemType)
    ->when($mode, function (Builder $query, $mode) {
        switch ($mode) {
            case "TopFavorites":
                return $query->orderByDesc('number_favorited');
            case "BestSelling":
                return $query->orderByDesc('number_sold');
            case "RecentlyUpdated":
                return $query->orderByDesc('updated_at');
            case "ForSale":
                return $query->where("onSale", true);
            case "Offsale":
                return $query->where("onSale", false);
        }
    })
    ->get();

I'm wondering if you can move the function in when to an external function in the controller class. I tried doing so however it seems the $query variable is not carried over even if you add it as an argument.

private function whenModeQuery(Builder $query, string $mode) {
    switch ($mode) {
        case "TopFavorites":
            return $query->orderByDesc('number_favorited');
        case "BestSelling":
            return $query->orderByDesc('number_sold');
        case "RecentlyUpdated":
            return $query->orderByDesc('updated_at');
        case "ForSale":
            return $query->where("onSale", true);
        case "Offsale":
            return $query->where("onSale", false);
    }
}

$items = Item::query()
    ->where("type", $itemType)
    ->when($mode, $this->whenModeQuery($query, $mode))
    ->get();

The code above gives me a Undefined variable $query error.

That will invoke the function immediately. Try using $this->whenModeQuery(...) to pass the function reference — apokryfos
– apokryfos, Commented yesterday

2 revs · Accepted Answer · 2025-12-01 12:08:20Z

1

As apokryfos pointed out in the comment, the issue is that you're calling the method immediately instead of passing it as a function reference to when(). The correct way is:

$items = Item::query()
    ->where("type", $itemType)
    ->when($mode, function (Builder $query, $mode) {
        return $this->whenModeQuery($query, $mode);
    })
    ->get();

Reference: https://laravel.com/docs/12.x/collections#method-when

Without any additional internal code, it can also be shortened:

$items = Item::query()
    ->where("type", $itemType)
    ->when($mode, fn (Builder $query) => $this->whenModeQuery($query, $mode))
    ->get();

Reference: How to use arrow functions in PHP?

edited 15 hours ago

community wiki

2 revs
rozsazoltan

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1 Comment

Odin Thunder 16 hours ago

->when($mode, fn (Builder $query) => $this->whenModeQuery($query, $mode)) - short version

rozsazoltan · Accepted Answer · 2025-12-01 12:47:11Z

If you want to move your whenModeQuery function into the Item model, you can do it using a scope. This way, you can access it from the $query variable through the Item scopes, like this:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Item extends Model
{
    protected function scopeWhenModeQuery(Builder $query, ?string $mode): Builder
    {
        if (!$mode) {
            return $query;
        }

        switch ($mode) {
            case "TopFavorites":
                return $query->orderByDesc('number_favorited');
            case "BestSelling":
                return $query->orderByDesc('number_sold');
            case "RecentlyUpdated":
                return $query->orderByDesc('updated_at');
            case "ForSale":
                return $query->where('onSale', true);
            case "Offsale":
                return $query->where('onSale', false);
            default:
                return $query;
        }
    }
}

From Laravel v12.40.0 onward, you can also use the Scope attribute:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Attributes\Scope;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Item extends Model
{
    #[Scope]
    protected function whenModeQuery(Builder $query, ?string $mode): Builder
    {
        if (!$mode) {
            return $query;
        }

        switch ($mode) {
            case "TopFavorites":
                return $query->orderByDesc('number_favorited');
            case "BestSelling":
                return $query->orderByDesc('number_sold');
            case "RecentlyUpdated":
                return $query->orderByDesc('updated_at');
            case "ForSale":
                return $query->where('onSale', true);
            case "Offsale":
                return $query->where('onSale', false);
            default:
                return $query;
        }
    }
}

And in both cases, you use it from the $query in your query:

$items = Item::query()
    ->where('type', $itemType)
    ->when($mode, fn (Builder $query) => $query->whenModeQuery($mode))
    ->get();

Reference: https://laravel.com/docs/12.x/eloquent#query-scopes

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