How can I make query where json column in the laravel?
Stefan Bogdanescu
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
# Mastering JSON Queries in Laravel: How to Filter Data in Your JSON Columns
As developers working with modern databases and frameworks like Laravel, dealing with semi-structured data stored in JSON columns is increasingly common. When you store complex arrays or objects within a single JSON field, querying those nested values can become surprisingly tricky.
This post addresses a very specific pain point: how to efficiently query an array of objects stored inside a `json` column in a Laravel application, especially when dealing with older versions like Laravel 5.6. We will dissect why your initial attempt failed and provide robust solutions using the power of raw SQL within Eloquent.
## The Challenge: Querying Nested JSON Data
You are attempting to filter records based on a value nested deep within a JSON array column. Your data structure looks something like this:
```json
[
{"code": "1", "club": "CHE", "country": "ENGLAND"},
{"code": "2", "club": "BAY", "country": "GERMANY"},
// ... more records
]
```
You want to find all records where the `club` field within this JSON structure equals `"CHE"`.
Your attempt:
```php
where('desc->club', '=', 'CHE')->get();
```
This fails because standard Eloquent relationship syntax (`->`) only works when you have defined a proper Eloquent relationship mapping to another table. When dealing with a raw JSON column, Laravel's ORM doesn't inherently understand how to traverse the nested structure within the stored string/JSON blob unless explicitly told how to interpret it via the database engine itself.
## The Solution: Leveraging MySQL JSON Functions with `whereRaw`
Since you are interacting directly with the underlying data format (JSON), the most powerful and efficient way to perform complex filtering is to delegate the operation directly to the database using its native JSON functions. For MySQL, this means utilizing functions like `JSON_CONTAINS` or `JSON_EXTRACT`.
We will use the `whereRaw` method on your Eloquent query to inject the necessary SQL logic.
### Step 1: Ensure Proper Column Type and Setup
First, ensure your database column is correctly defined as a JSON type (like `JSON` in MySQL). If you are using Laravel 5.6, this setup relies heavily on how your migration was written.
### Step 2: Writing the Query with `whereRaw`
To check if any element within the JSON array contains a specific key-value pair, we need to use `JSON_CONTAINS`. This function checks if a specified value exists within a JSON document.
Here is how you would structure the query to find records where *at least one* object in the `desc` JSON array has `"club": "CHE"`:
```php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
// Assuming $model is your Eloquent model and $query is your base query builder
$targetClub = 'CHE';
$results = $model::whereRaw("JSON_CONTAINS(desc, '{\"club\":\"{$targetClub}\"}')")
->get();
// If you needed to check for a specific nested value directly:
// For example, finding records where any entry has code '1'
/*
$results = $model::