How to get data from two related tables in laravel 5?
Stefan Bogdanescu
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
# How to Get Data from Two Related Tables in Laravel 5: Eloquent vs. Query Builder Joins
As developers working with relational databases, fetching data that spans multiple tables is a fundamental task. In Laravel, this usually involves joining tables, and there are several ways to achieve this—from raw SQL via the Query Builder to elegant object-oriented solutions using Eloquent.
The scenario you described—linking `Employees` to `Departments`—is a classic example of a one-to-many relationship. While you can certainly use explicit `JOIN`s, modern Laravel development strongly favors leveraging Eloquent’s built-in relationships for cleaner, more maintainable code.
Let's explore the different approaches and determine the best practice for retrieving this data in Laravel 5.
## Method 1: The Eloquent Approach (The Recommended Way)
The most idiomatic way to handle related data in Laravel is by defining Eloquent relationships between your models and utilizing **Eager Loading**. This approach keeps your code expressive and abstracts away the complexities of raw SQL joins.
### Step 1: Define the Relationship
In your `Employee` model, you define the relationship pointing to the `Department` model:
```php
// app/Employee.php
class Employee extends Model
{
public function department()
{
// This defines the belongsTo relationship
return $this->belongsTo(Department::class);
}
}
```
### Step 2: Eager Load the Data
Instead of loading employees and then looping through them to fetch departments (which leads to the infamous N+1 query problem), you use the `with()` method to instruct Eloquent to load the related data in a single, optimized query.
```php
// In your Controller
$employees = Employee::with('department')->get();
```
When you execute this query, Eloquent internally generates the necessary `JOIN` operation for you behind the scenes. This is significantly cleaner than manually writing the join statement every time. As a senior developer, I always recommend prioritizing ORM features when possible, especially when working within the Laravel ecosystem, as demonstrated by best practices outlined on platforms like https://laravelcompany.com.
### Accessing Nested Data in the View
Once you have eagerly loaded the data, accessing the related fields in your Blade view becomes straightforward:
```blade
@foreach ($employees as $employee)
{{-- Accessing the related department name directly --}}
Name: {{ $employee->first_name }}
Department: {{ $employee->department->name }}
@endforeach ``` Notice how clean this is. Eloquent automatically hydrates the relationship, allowing you to treat `$employee->department` as a fully loaded object, making view logic much simpler than manually managing table aliases from the Query Builder. ## Method 2: The Query Builder Approach (Explicit Joins) If you need highly customized joins, complex filtering that doesn't map neatly to Eloquent relationships, or raw performance tuning for extremely large datasets, the Query Builder remains a powerful tool. This is exactly what you started with: ```php use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB; $data = DB::table('Employees') ->join('Departments', 'Employees.Department', '=', 'Departments.ID') ->select( 'Employees.Firstname', 'Employees.Surname', 'Employees.Age', 'Departments.Name as Department_Name' // Using an alias here ) ->get(); ``` ### Handling Aliases in Joins As you correctly noted, when using the Query Builder, explicit table aliases are essential for clarity and avoiding naming collisions. We use `as` to rename the joined columns: `'Departments.Name as Department_Name'`. This allows us to specify exactly which column we want from which table, directly addressing your concern about aliasing. ## Conclusion: Choosing the Right Tool For most standard relational tasks in Laravel, **Eloquent relationships combined with Eager Loading (`with()`) are the superior choice.** They promote code readability, maintainability, and leverage the power of the ORM to handle database interactions efficiently. Use the **Query Builder** when you need raw SQL flexibility or complex aggregations that Eloquent doesn't easily support. Always aim for the Eloquent path first, but don't hesitate to fall back on explicit joins when necessary. Mastering both techniques ensures you can write robust and efficient data-driven applications.