Does Laravel's toSql() method mask ids? (column value being replaced by question mark)

Question

I'm trying to debug some SQL queries that I'm doing in a testing suite. Using the following debugging code:

\Log::debug(User::first()->jobs()->toSql());

The SQL that prints out is:

`select * from `jobs` where `jobs`.`deleted_at` is null and `jobs`.`managed_by_id` = ? and `jobs`.`managed_by_id` is not null`

What is that question mark doing there? I've tested the query, and it works as expected. Is it because i'm selecting that first() user that this is happening?

Answer 1

Laravel uses Prepared Statements. They're a way of writing an SQL statement without dropping variables directly into the SQL string. The ? you see are placeholders or bindings for the information which will later be substituted and automatically sanitised by PDO. See the PHP docs for more information on prepared statements http://php.net/manual/en/pdo.prepared-statements.php

To view the data that will be substituted into the query string you can call the getBindings() function on the query as below.

$query = User::first()->jobs();

dd($query->toSql(), $query->getBindings());

The array of bindings get substituted in the same order the ? appear in the SQL statement.