Laravel How to Group a Collection with `groupBy()`

Problem: You have a collection of items and need to organize them into groups based on a specific attribute, like grouping users by role or products by category.

Solution:

// Basic groupBy
$users = collect([
    ['name' => 'John', 'role' => 'admin', 'city' => 'NYC'],
    ['name' => 'Jane', 'role' => 'user', 'city' => 'LA'],
    ['name' => 'Bob', 'role' => 'admin', 'city' => 'NYC'],
    ['name' => 'Alice', 'role' => 'user', 'city' => 'NYC']
]);

$byRole = $users->groupBy('role');
// Result:
// [
//     'admin' => [['name' => 'John'...], ['name' => 'Bob'...]],
//     'user' => [['name' => 'Jane'...], ['name' => 'Alice'...]]
// ]

// Group by nested attribute
$byCity = $users->groupBy('address.city');

// Group by multiple levels
$grouped = $users->groupBy(['role', 'city']);
// Result: nested groups - first by role, then by city

// Custom grouping logic
$byNameLength = $users->groupBy(function ($user) {
    return strlen($user['name']);
});

// From database query
$orders = Order::with('customer')
    ->get()
    ->groupBy('status');

$ordersByMonth = Order::get()->groupBy(function ($order) {
    return $order->created_at->format('Y-m');
});

// Preserve keys after grouping
$products = Product::all()
    ->groupBy('category_id')
    ->map(function ($group) {
        return $group->sum('price');
    });

// Group and count
$userCounts = User::all()
    ->groupBy('role')
    ->map->count();

Why it works: groupBy() creates a new collection where items are organized by the specified key. The original items remain unchanged, just reorganized. When using a callback, you can create custom grouping logic based on any criteria.

Performance tip: For large datasets from the database, consider using SQL GROUP BY with aggregates instead of collection grouping.

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• How to Filter a Collection Based on a Key's Value - Filter groups after grouping