How to update column value in laravel

Stefan Izdrail

Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29

Laravel Company

Updating Column Values in Laravel: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction: As a senior developer or technical blogger, updating column values in your Laravel application can be an essential task at times. In this blog post, we'll explore how to correctly update the "image" column value without encountering any errors. We will also provide relevant code examples and best practices for handling database operations.

Problem

The code snippet provided demonstrates an attempt to update the "image" column value by first searching for a record based on its path and ID. However, the error message indicates that the query is attempting to use the where() function with a non-object, which suggests that the initial search may have failed or returned invalid data.

Solution 1: Correcting the Query for Existing Records

To avoid the error and update the "image" column value correctly, we can rewrite the code as follows:

public function delImage($path, $id) {
    $page = Page::find($id);

    if ($page !== null) {
        // Update the 'image' column value for the found record.
        $page->update(['image' => 'asdasd']);
        
        \File::delete($path);
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

This code initially finds the page with the specified ID and then checks if the record exists. If it does, we can proceed to update the "image" column value and delete the file referenced by $path. Otherwise, we can return false as an error response since no record was found.

Solution 2: Handling Non-Existing Records

If you want to handle non-existing records and update the column value regardless of whether a page with the specified ID exists, you can modify your code as follows:

public function delImage($path) {
    // Attempt to find a record based on its path and ID.
    $page = Page::where('id', $id)->where('image', $path)->first();
    
    if ($page !== null) {
        $page->update(['image' => 'asdasd']);
        \File::delete($path);
    } else {
        // Create a new page record with the updated column value.
        $newPage = new Page;
        $newPage->id = $id;
        $newPage->title = 'Title';
        $newPage->body = 'Content';
        $newPage->image = $path;
        
        // Update the new record.
        $newPage->update();
    }
}

This approach ensures that the "image" column value is updated even if no existing page matches the given ID and image path. It creates a new page record with the necessary information, including the updated column value, and then updates it to the database.

Conclusion

Updating column values in Laravel can be achieved through various approaches depending on your needs. The examples provided above demonstrate how to handle existing records with correct methods and best practices for updating the "image" column value without encountering errors.

Remember: Always ensure that you have proper error handling, and whenever possible, try to update data on an already existing record instead of creating new ones. Also, don't forget that in some cases, it might be better to use migrations or database seeds for initializing your database with correct values.

Closing Remarks

Learn more about Laravel development, best practices, and how to work with the Laravel framework at Laravel Company's blog.