Query Builder
=============

Built on top of [Database Access Objects](db-dao.md), query builder allows you to construct a SQL query
in a programmatic and DBMS-agnostic way. Compared to writing raw SQL statements, using query builder will help you write 
more readable SQL-related code and generate more secure SQL statements.  

Using query builder usually involves two steps:

1. Build a [[yii\db\Query]] object to represent different parts (e.g. `SELECT`, `FROM`) of a SELECT SQL statement.
2. Execute a query method (e.g. `all()`) of [[yii\db\Query]] to retrieve data from the database.

The following code shows a typical way of using query builder:

```php
$rows = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select(['id', 'email'])
    ->from('user')
    ->where(['last_name' => 'Smith'])
    ->limit(10)
    ->all();
```

The above code generates and executes the following SQL query, where the `:last_name` parameter is bound with the
string `'Smith'`.

```sql
SELECT `id`, `email` 
FROM `user`
WHERE `last_name` = :last_name
LIMIT 10
```

> Info: You usually mainly work with [[yii\db\Query]] instead of [[yii\db\QueryBuilder]]. The latter is invoked
  by the former implicitly when you call one of the query methods. [[yii\db\QueryBuilder]] is the class responsible
  for generating DBMS-dependent SQL statements (e.g. quoting table/column names differently) from DBMS-independent
  [[yii\db\Query]] objects.


## Building Queries <span id="building-queries"></span>

To build a [[yii\db\Query]] object, you call different query building methods to specify different parts of
a SQL query. The names of these methods resemble the SQL keywords used in the corresponding parts of the SQL
statement. For example, to specify the `FROM` part of a SQL query, you would call the [[yii\db\Query::from()|from()]] method.
All the query building methods return the query object itself, which allows you to chain multiple calls together.

In the following, we will describe the usage of each query building method.


### [[yii\db\Query::select()|select()]] <span id="select"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::select()|select()]] method specifies the `SELECT` fragment of a SQL statement. You can specify 
columns to be selected in either an array or a string, like the following. The column names being selected will 
be automatically quoted when the SQL statement is being generated from a query object.
 
```php
$query->select(['id', 'email']);

// equivalent to:

$query->select('id, email');
```

The column names being selected may include table prefixes and/or column aliases, like you do when writing raw SQL queries.
For example,

```php
$query->select(['user.id AS user_id', 'email']);

// equivalent to:

$query->select('user.id AS user_id, email');
```

If you are using the array format to specify columns, you can also use the array keys to specify the column aliases.
For example, the above code can be rewritten as follows,

```php
$query->select(['user_id' => 'user.id', 'email']);
```

If you do not call the [[yii\db\Query::select()|select()]] method when building a query, `*` will be selected, which
means selecting *all* columns.

Besides column names, you can also select DB expressions. You must use the array format when selecting a DB expression
that contains commas to avoid incorrect automatic name quoting. For example,

```php
$query->select(["CONCAT(first_name, ' ', last_name) AS full_name", 'email']); 
```

As with all places where raw SQL is involved, you may use the [DBMS agnostic quoting syntax](db-dao.md#quoting-table-and-column-names)
for table and column names when writing DB expressions in select.

Starting from version 2.0.1, you may also select sub-queries. You should specify each sub-query in terms of 
a [[yii\db\Query]] object. For example,
 
```php
$subQuery = (new Query())->select('COUNT(*)')->from('user');

// SELECT `id`, (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `user`) AS `count` FROM `post`
$query = (new Query())->select(['id', 'count' => $subQuery])->from('post');
```

To select distinct rows, you may call [[yii\db\Query::distinct()|distinct()]], like the following:

```php
// SELECT DISTINCT `user_id` ...
$query->select('user_id')->distinct();
```

You can call [[yii\db\Query::addSelect()|addSelect()]] to select additional columns. For example,

```php
$query->select(['id', 'username'])
    ->addSelect(['email']);
```


### [[yii\db\Query::from()|from()]] <span id="from"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::from()|from()]] method specifies the `FROM` fragment of a SQL statement. For example,

```php
// SELECT * FROM `user`
$query->from('user');
```

You can specify the table(s) being selected from in either a string or an array. The table names may contain
schema prefixes and/or table aliases, like you do when writing raw SQL statements. For example,

```php
$query->from(['public.user u', 'public.post p']);

// equivalent to:

$query->from('public.user u, public.post p');
```

If you are using the array format, you can also use the array keys to specify the table aliases, like the following:

```php
$query->from(['u' => 'public.user', 'p' => 'public.post']);
```

Besides table names, you can also select from sub-queries by specifying them in terms of [[yii\db\Query]] objects.
For example,

```php
$subQuery = (new Query())->select('id')->from('user')->where('status=1');

// SELECT * FROM (SELECT `id` FROM `user` WHERE status=1) u 
$query->from(['u' => $subQuery]);
```

#### Prefixes
Also a default [[yii\db\Connection::$tablePrefix|tablePrefix]] can be applied. Implementation instructions
are in the ["Quoting Tables" section of the "Database Access Objects" guide](guide-db-dao.html#quoting-table-and-column-names).

### [[yii\db\Query::where()|where()]] <span id="where"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::where()|where()]] method specifies the `WHERE` fragment of a SQL query. You can use one of
the four formats to specify a `WHERE` condition:

- string format, e.g., `'status=1'`
- hash format, e.g. `['status' => 1, 'type' => 2]`
- operator format, e.g. `['like', 'name', 'test']`
- object format, e.g. `new LikeCondition('name', 'LIKE', 'test')`

#### String Format <span id="string-format"></span>

String format is best used to specify very simple conditions or if you need to use built-in functions of the DBMS.
It works as if you are writing a raw SQL. For example,

```php
$query->where('status=1');

// or use parameter binding to bind dynamic parameter values
$query->where('status=:status', [':status' => $status]);

// raw SQL using MySQL YEAR() function on a date field
$query->where('YEAR(somedate) = 2015');
```

Do NOT embed variables directly in the condition like the following, especially if the variable values come from 
end user inputs, because this will make your application subject to SQL injection attacks.
 
```php
// Dangerous! Do NOT do this unless you are very certain $status must be an integer.
$query->where("status=$status");
```

When using `parameter binding`, you may call [[yii\db\Query::params()|params()]] or [[yii\db\Query::addParams()|addParams()]]
to specify parameters separately.

```php
$query->where('status=:status')
    ->addParams([':status' => $status]);
```

As with all places where raw SQL is involved, you may use the [DBMS agnostic quoting syntax](db-dao.md#quoting-table-and-column-names)
for table and column names when writing conditions in string format. 

#### Hash Format <span id="hash-format"></span>

Hash format is best used to specify multiple `AND`-concatenated sub-conditions each being a simple equality assertion.
It is written as an array whose keys are column names and values the corresponding values that the columns should be.
For example,

```php
// ...WHERE (`status` = 10) AND (`type` IS NULL) AND (`id` IN (4, 8, 15))
$query->where([
    'status' => 10,
    'type' => null,
    'id' => [4, 8, 15],
]);
```

As you can see, the query builder is intelligent enough to properly handle values that are nulls or arrays.

You can also use sub-queries with hash format like the following:

```php
$userQuery = (new Query())->select('id')->from('user');

// ...WHERE `id` IN (SELECT `id` FROM `user`)
$query->where(['id' => $userQuery]);
```

Using the Hash Format, Yii internally applies parameter binding for values, so in contrast to the [string format](#string-format),
here you do not have to add parameters manually. However, note that Yii never escapes column names, so if you pass
a variable obtained from user side as a column name without any additional checks, the application will become vulnerable
to SQL injection attack. In order to keep the application secure, either do not use variables as column names or
filter variable against allowlist. In case you need to get column name from user, read the [Filtering Data](output-data-widgets.md#filtering-data)
guide article. For example the following code is vulnerable:

```php
// Vulnerable code:
$column = $request->get('column');
$value = $request->get('value');
$query->where([$column => $value]);
// $value is safe, but $column name won't be encoded!
```

#### Operator Format <span id="operator-format"></span>

Operator format allows you to specify arbitrary conditions in a programmatic way. It takes the following format:

```php
[operator, operand1, operand2, ...]
```

where the operands can each be specified in string format, hash format or operator format recursively, while
the operator can be one of the following:

- `and`: the operands should be concatenated together using `AND`. For example,
  `['and', 'id=1', 'id=2']` will generate `id=1 AND id=2`. If an operand is an array,
  it will be converted into a string using the rules described here. For example,
  `['and', 'type=1', ['or', 'id=1', 'id=2']]` will generate `type=1 AND (id=1 OR id=2)`.
  The method will NOT do any quoting or escaping.

- `or`: similar to the `and` operator except that the operands are concatenated using `OR`.

- `not`: requires only operand 1, which will be wrapped in `NOT()`. For example, `['not', 'id=1']` will generate `NOT (id=1)`. Operand 1 may also be an array to describe multiple expressions. For example `['not', ['status' => 'draft', 'name' => 'example']]` will generate `NOT ((status='draft') AND (name='example'))`.

- `between`: operand 1 should be the column name, and operand 2 and 3 should be the
   starting and ending values of the range that the column is in.
   For example, `['between', 'id', 1, 10]` will generate `id BETWEEN 1 AND 10`.
   In case you need to build a condition where value is between two columns (like `11 BETWEEN min_id AND max_id`), 
   you should use [[yii\db\conditions\BetweenColumnsCondition|BetweenColumnsCondition]]. 
   See [Conditions – Object Format](#object-format) chapter to learn more about object definition of conditions.

- `not between`: similar to `between` except the `BETWEEN` is replaced with `NOT BETWEEN`
  in the generated condition.

- `in`: operand 1 should be a column or DB expression. Operand 2 can be either an array or a `Query` object.
  It will generate an `IN` condition. If Operand 2 is an array, it will represent the range of the values
  that the column or DB expression should be; If Operand 2 is a `Query` object, a sub-query will be generated
  and used as the range of the column or DB expression. For example,
  `['in', 'id', [1, 2, 3]]` will generate `id IN (1, 2, 3)`.
  The method will properly quote the column name and escape values in the range.
  The `in` operator also supports composite columns. In this case, operand 1 should be an array of the columns,
  while operand 2 should be an array of arrays or a `Query` object representing the range of the columns.
  For example, `['in', ['id', 'name'], [['id' => 1, 'name' => 'oy']]]` will generate `(id, name) IN ((1, 'oy'))`.

- `not in`: similar to the `in` operator except that `IN` is replaced with `NOT IN` in the generated condition.

- `like`: operand 1 should be a column or DB expression, and operand 2 be a string or an array representing
  the values that the column or DB expression should be like.
  For example, `['like', 'name', 'tester']` will generate `name LIKE '%tester%'`.
  When the value range is given as an array, multiple `LIKE` predicates will be generated and concatenated
  using `AND`. For example, `['like', 'name', ['test', 'sample']]` will generate
  `name LIKE '%test%' AND name LIKE '%sample%'`.
  You may also provide an optional third operand to specify how to escape special characters in the values.
  The operand should be an array of mappings from the special characters to their
  escaped counterparts. If this operand is not provided, a default escape mapping will be used.
  You may use `false` or an empty array to indicate the values are already escaped and no escape
  should be applied. Note that when using an escape mapping (or the third operand is not provided),
  the values will be automatically enclosed within a pair of percentage characters.

  > Note: When using PostgreSQL you may also use [`ilike`](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/functions-matching.html#FUNCTIONS-LIKE)
  > instead of `like` for case-insensitive matching.

- `or like`: similar to the `like` operator except that `OR` is used to concatenate the `LIKE`
  predicates when operand 2 is an array.

- `not like`: similar to the `like` operator except that `LIKE` is replaced with `NOT LIKE`
  in the generated condition.

- `or not like`: similar to the `not like` operator except that `OR` is used to concatenate
  the `NOT LIKE` predicates.

- `exists`: requires one operand which must be an instance of [[yii\db\Query]] representing the sub-query.
  It will build an `EXISTS (sub-query)` expression.

- `not exists`: similar to the `exists` operator and builds a `NOT EXISTS (sub-query)` expression.

- `>`, `<=`, or any other valid DB operator that takes two operands: the first operand must be a column name
  while the second operand a value. For example, `['>', 'age', 10]` will generate `age>10`.

Using the Operator Format, Yii internally uses parameter binding for values, so in contrast to the [string format](#string-format),
here you do not have to add parameters manually. However, note that Yii never escapes column names, so if you pass
a variable as a column name, the application will likely become vulnerable to SQL injection attack. In order to keep
application secure, either do not use variables as column names or filter variable against allowlist.
In case you need to get column name from user, read the [Filtering Data](output-data-widgets.md#filtering-data)
guide article. For example the following code is vulnerable:

```php
// Vulnerable code:
$column = $request->get('column');
$value = $request->get('value');
$query->where(['=', $column, $value]);
// $value is safe, but $column name won't be encoded!
```

#### Object Format <span id="object-format"></span>

Object Form is available since 2.0.14 and is both most powerful and most complex way to define conditions.
You need to follow it either if you want to build your own abstraction over query builder or if you want to implement
your own complex conditions.

Instances of condition classes are immutable. Their only purpose is to store condition data and provide getters
for condition builders. Condition builder is a class that holds the logic that transforms data 
stored in condition into the SQL expression.

Internally the formats described above are implicitly converted to object format prior to building raw SQL,
so it is possible to combine formats in a single condition:

```php
$query->andWhere(new OrCondition([
    new InCondition('type', 'in', $types),
    ['like', 'name', '%good%'],
    'disabled=false'
]))
```

Conversion from operator format into object format is performed according to
[[yii\db\QueryBuilder::conditionClasses|QueryBuilder::conditionClasses]] property, that maps operators names
to representative class names:

- `AND`, `OR` -> `yii\db\conditions\ConjunctionCondition`
- `NOT` -> `yii\db\conditions\NotCondition`
- `IN`, `NOT IN` -> `yii\db\conditions\InCondition`
- `BETWEEN`, `NOT BETWEEN` -> `yii\db\conditions\BetweenCondition`

And so on.

Using the object format makes it possible to create your own conditions or to change the way default ones are built.
See [Adding Custom Conditions and Expressions](#adding-custom-conditions-and-expressions) chapter to learn more.


#### Appending Conditions <span id="appending-conditions"></span>

You can use [[yii\db\Query::andWhere()|andWhere()]] or [[yii\db\Query::orWhere()|orWhere()]] to append
additional conditions to an existing one. You can call them multiple times to append multiple conditions
separately. For example,

```php
$status = 10;
$search = 'yii';

$query->where(['status' => $status]);

if (!empty($search)) {
    $query->andWhere(['like', 'title', $search]);
}
```

If `$search` is not empty, the following `WHERE` condition will be generated:

```sql
WHERE (`status` = 10) AND (`title` LIKE '%yii%')
```


#### Filter Conditions <span id="filter-conditions"></span>

When building `WHERE` conditions based on input from end users, you usually want to ignore those input values, that are empty.
For example, in a search form that allows you to search by username and email, you would like to ignore the username/email
condition if the user does not enter anything in the username/email input field. You can achieve this goal by
using the [[yii\db\Query::filterWhere()|filterWhere()]] method:

```php
// $username and $email are from user inputs
$query->filterWhere([
    'username' => $username,
    'email' => $email,
]);
```

The only difference between [[yii\db\Query::filterWhere()|filterWhere()]] and [[yii\db\Query::where()|where()]] 
is that the former will ignore empty values provided in the condition in [hash format](#hash-format). So if `$email`
is empty while `$username` is not, the above code will result in the SQL condition `WHERE username=:username`.

> Info: A value is considered empty if it is `null`, an empty array, an empty string or a string consisting of whitespaces only.

Like [[yii\db\Query::andWhere()|andWhere()]] and [[yii\db\Query::orWhere()|orWhere()]], you can use
[[yii\db\Query::andFilterWhere()|andFilterWhere()]] and [[yii\db\Query::orFilterWhere()|orFilterWhere()]]
to append additional filter conditions to the existing one.

Additionally, there is [[yii\db\Query::andFilterCompare()]] that can intelligently determine operator based on what's
in the value:

```php
$query->andFilterCompare('name', 'John Doe');
$query->andFilterCompare('rating', '>9');
$query->andFilterCompare('value', '<=100');
```

You can also specify operator explicitly:

```php
$query->andFilterCompare('name', 'Doe', 'like');
```

Since Yii 2.0.11 there are similar methods for `HAVING` condition:

- [[yii\db\Query::filterHaving()|filterHaving()]]
- [[yii\db\Query::andFilterHaving()|andFilterHaving()]]
- [[yii\db\Query::orFilterHaving()|orFilterHaving()]]

### [[yii\db\Query::orderBy()|orderBy()]] <span id="order-by"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::orderBy()|orderBy()]] method specifies the `ORDER BY` fragment of a SQL query. For example,

```php
// ... ORDER BY `id` ASC, `name` DESC
$query->orderBy([
    'id' => SORT_ASC,
    'name' => SORT_DESC,
]);
```
 
In the above code, the array keys are column names while the array values are the corresponding order by directions.
The PHP constant `SORT_ASC` specifies ascending sort and `SORT_DESC` descending sort.

If `ORDER BY` only involves simple column names, you can specify it using a string, just like you do when writing 
raw SQL statements. For example,

```php
$query->orderBy('id ASC, name DESC');
```

> Note: You should use the array format if `ORDER BY` involves some DB expression. 

You can call [[yii\db\Query::addOrderBy()|addOrderBy()]] to add additional columns to the `ORDER BY` fragment.
For example,

```php
$query->orderBy('id ASC')
    ->addOrderBy('name DESC');
```


### [[yii\db\Query::groupBy()|groupBy()]] <span id="group-by"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::groupBy()|groupBy()]] method specifies the `GROUP BY` fragment of a SQL query. For example,

```php
// ... GROUP BY `id`, `status`
$query->groupBy(['id', 'status']);
```

If `GROUP BY` only involves simple column names, you can specify it using a string, just like you do when writing 
raw SQL statements. For example,

```php
$query->groupBy('id, status');
```

> Note: You should use the array format if `GROUP BY` involves some DB expression.
 
You can call [[yii\db\Query::addGroupBy()|addGroupBy()]] to add additional columns to the `GROUP BY` fragment.
For example,

```php
$query->groupBy(['id', 'status'])
    ->addGroupBy('age');
```


### [[yii\db\Query::having()|having()]] <span id="having"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::having()|having()]] method specifies the `HAVING` fragment of a SQL query. It takes
a condition which can be specified in the same way as that for [where()](#where). For example,

```php
// ... HAVING `status` = 1
$query->having(['status' => 1]);
```

Please refer to the documentation for [where()](#where) for more details about how to specify a condition.

You can call [[yii\db\Query::andHaving()|andHaving()]] or [[yii\db\Query::orHaving()|orHaving()]] to append
additional conditions to the `HAVING` fragment. For example,

```php
// ... HAVING (`status` = 1) AND (`age` > 30)
$query->having(['status' => 1])
    ->andHaving(['>', 'age', 30]);
```


### [[yii\db\Query::limit()|limit()]] and [[yii\db\Query::offset()|offset()]] <span id="limit-offset"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::limit()|limit()]] and [[yii\db\Query::offset()|offset()]] methods specify the `LIMIT`
and `OFFSET` fragments of a SQL query. For example,

```php
// ... LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20
$query->limit(10)->offset(20);
```

If you specify an invalid limit or offset (e.g. a negative value), it will be ignored.

> Info: For DBMS that do not support `LIMIT` and `OFFSET` (e.g. MSSQL), query builder will generate a SQL
  statement that emulates the `LIMIT`/`OFFSET` behavior.


### [[yii\db\Query::join()|join()]] <span id="join"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::join()|join()]] method specifies the `JOIN` fragment of a SQL query. For example,

```php
// ... LEFT JOIN `post` ON `post`.`user_id` = `user`.`id`
$query->join('LEFT JOIN', 'post', 'post.user_id = user.id');
```

The [[yii\db\Query::join()|join()]] method takes four parameters:

- `$type`: join type, e.g., `'INNER JOIN'`, `'LEFT JOIN'`.
- `$table`: the name of the table to be joined.
- `$on`: optional, the join condition, i.e., the `ON` fragment. Please refer to [where()](#where) for details
   about specifying a condition. Note, that the array syntax does **not** work for specifying a column based
   condition, e.g. `['user.id' => 'comment.userId']` will result in a condition where the user id must be equal
   to the string `'comment.userId'`. You should use the string syntax instead and specify the condition as
   `'user.id = comment.userId'`.
- `$params`: optional, the parameters to be bound to the join condition.

You can use the following shortcut methods to specify `INNER JOIN`, `LEFT JOIN` and `RIGHT JOIN`, respectively.

- [[yii\db\Query::innerJoin()|innerJoin()]]
- [[yii\db\Query::leftJoin()|leftJoin()]]
- [[yii\db\Query::rightJoin()|rightJoin()]]

For example,

```php
$query->leftJoin('post', 'post.user_id = user.id');
```

To join with multiple tables, call the above join methods multiple times, once for each table.

Besides joining with tables, you can also join with sub-queries. To do so, specify the sub-queries to be joined
as [[yii\db\Query]] objects. For example,

```php
$subQuery = (new \yii\db\Query())->from('post');
$query->leftJoin(['u' => $subQuery], 'u.id = author_id');
```

In this case, you should put the sub-query in an array and use the array key to specify the alias.


### [[yii\db\Query::union()|union()]] <span id="union"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::union()|union()]] method specifies the `UNION` fragment of a SQL query. For example,

```php
$query1 = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select("id, category_id AS type, name")
    ->from('post')
    ->limit(10);

$query2 = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select('id, type, name')
    ->from('user')
    ->limit(10);

$query1->union($query2);
```

You can call [[yii\db\Query::union()|union()]] multiple times to append more `UNION` fragments. 

### [[yii\db\Query::withQuery()|withQuery()]] <span id="with-query"></span>

The [[yii\db\Query::withQuery()|withQuery()]] method specifies the `WITH` prefix of a SQL query. You can use it instead of subquery for more readability and some unique features (recursive CTE). Read more at [modern-sql](https://modern-sql.com/feature/with). For example, this query will select all nested permissions of `admin` with their children recursively,

```php
$initialQuery = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select(['parent', 'child'])
    ->from(['aic' => 'auth_item_child'])
    ->where(['parent' => 'admin']);

$recursiveQuery = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select(['aic.parent', 'aic.child'])
    ->from(['aic' => 'auth_item_child'])
    ->innerJoin('t1', 't1.child = aic.parent');

$mainQuery = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select(['parent', 'child'])
    ->from('t1')
    ->withQuery($initialQuery->union($recursiveQuery), 't1', true);
```

[[yii\db\Query::withQuery()|withQuery()]] can be called multiple times to prepend more CTE's to main query. Queries will be prepend in same order as they attached. If one of query is recursive then whole CTE become recursive.

## Query Methods <span id="query-methods"></span>

[[yii\db\Query]] provides a whole set of methods for different query purposes:

- [[yii\db\Query::all()|all()]]: returns an array of rows with each row being an associative array of name-value pairs.
- [[yii\db\Query::one()|one()]]: returns the first row of the result.
- [[yii\db\Query::column()|column()]]: returns the first column of the result.
- [[yii\db\Query::scalar()|scalar()]]: returns a scalar value located at the first row and first column of the result.
- [[yii\db\Query::exists()|exists()]]: returns a value indicating whether the query contains any result.
- [[yii\db\Query::count()|count()]]: returns the result of a `COUNT` query.
- Other aggregation query methods, including [[yii\db\Query::sum()|sum($q)]], [[yii\db\Query::average()|average($q)]],
  [[yii\db\Query::max()|max($q)]], [[yii\db\Query::min()|min($q)]]. The `$q` parameter is mandatory for these methods 
  and can be either a column name or a DB expression.

For example,

```php
// SELECT `id`, `email` FROM `user`
$rows = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select(['id', 'email'])
    ->from('user')
    ->all();
    
// SELECT * FROM `user` WHERE `username` LIKE `%test%`
$row = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->from('user')
    ->where(['like', 'username', 'test'])
    ->one();
```

> Note: The [[yii\db\Query::one()|one()]] method only returns the first row of the query result. It does NOT
  add `LIMIT 1` to the generated SQL statement. This is fine and preferred if you know the query will return only one 
  or a few rows of data (e.g. if you are querying with some primary keys). However, if the query may potentially 
  result in many rows of data, you should call `limit(1)` explicitly to improve the performance, e.g.,
  `(new \yii\db\Query())->from('user')->limit(1)->one()`.

All these query methods take an optional `$db` parameter representing the [[yii\db\Connection|DB connection]] that
should be used to perform a DB query. If you omit this parameter, the `db` [application component](structure-application-components.md) will be used
as the DB connection. Below is another example using the [[yii\db\Query::count()|count()]] query method:

```php
// executes SQL: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `user` WHERE `last_name`=:last_name
$count = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->from('user')
    ->where(['last_name' => 'Smith'])
    ->count();
```

When you call a query method of [[yii\db\Query]], it actually does the following work internally:

* Call [[yii\db\QueryBuilder]] to generate a SQL statement based on the current construct of [[yii\db\Query]];
* Create a [[yii\db\Command]] object with the generated SQL statement;
* Call a query method (e.g.  [[yii\db\Command::queryAll()|queryAll()]]) of [[yii\db\Command]] to execute the SQL statement and retrieve the data.

Sometimes, you may want to examine or use the SQL statement built from a [[yii\db\Query]] object. You can
achieve this goal with the following code: 

```php
$command = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->select(['id', 'email'])
    ->from('user')
    ->where(['last_name' => 'Smith'])
    ->limit(10)
    ->createCommand();
    
// show the SQL statement
echo $command->sql;
// show the parameters to be bound
print_r($command->params);

// returns all rows of the query result
$rows = $command->queryAll();
```


### Indexing Query Results <span id="indexing-query-results"></span>

When you call [[yii\db\Query::all()|all()]], it will return an array of rows which are indexed by consecutive integers.
Sometimes you may want to index them differently, such as indexing by a particular column or expression values.
You can achieve this goal by calling [[yii\db\Query::indexBy()|indexBy()]] before [[yii\db\Query::all()|all()]].
For example,

```php
// returns [100 => ['id' => 100, 'username' => '...', ...], 101 => [...], 103 => [...], ...]
$query = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->from('user')
    ->limit(10)
    ->indexBy('id')
    ->all();
```

The column which name is passed into [[yii\db\Query::indexBy()|indexBy()]] method must be present in the result set in order 
for indexing to work - it is up to the developer to take care of it.

To index by expression values, pass an anonymous function to the [[yii\db\Query::indexBy()|indexBy()]] method:

```php
$query = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->from('user')
    ->indexBy(function ($row) {
        return $row['id'] . $row['username'];
    })->all();
```

The anonymous function takes a parameter `$row` which contains the current row data and should return a scalar
value which will be used as the index value for the current row.

> Note: In contrast to query methods like [[yii\db\Query::groupBy()|groupBy()]] or [[yii\db\Query::orderBy()|orderBy()]]
> which are converted to SQL and are part of the query, this method works after the data has been fetched from the database.
> That means that only those column names can be used that have been part of SELECT in your query.
> Also if you selected a column with table prefix, e.g. `customer.id`, the result set will only contain `id` so you have to call
> `->indexBy('id')` without table prefix.


### Batch Query <span id="batch-query"></span>

When working with large amounts of data, methods such as [[yii\db\Query::all()]] are not suitable
because they require loading the whole query result into the client's memory. To solve this issue
Yii provides batch query support. The server holds the query result, and the client uses a cursor
to iterate over the result set one batch at a time.

> Warning: There are known limitations and workarounds for the MySQL implementation of batch queries. See below.

Batch query can be used like the following:

```php
use yii\db\Query;

$query = (new Query())
    ->from('user')
    ->orderBy('id');

foreach ($query->batch() as $users) {
    // $users is an array of 100 or fewer rows from the user table
}

// or to iterate the row one by one
foreach ($query->each() as $user) {
    // data is being fetched from the server in batches of 100,
    // but $user represents one row of data from the user table
}
```

The method [[yii\db\Query::batch()]] and [[yii\db\Query::each()]] return an [[yii\db\BatchQueryResult]] 
object which implements the `Iterator` interface and thus can be used in the `foreach` construct.
During the first iteration, a SQL query is made to the database. Data is then fetched in batches
in the remaining iterations. By default, the batch size is 100, meaning 100 rows of data are being fetched in each batch.
You can change the batch size by passing the first parameter to the `batch()` or `each()` method.

Compared to the [[yii\db\Query::all()]], the batch query only loads 100 rows of data at a time into the memory.

If you specify the query result to be indexed by some column via [[yii\db\Query::indexBy()]], 
the batch query will still keep the proper index.

For example:

```php
$query = (new \yii\db\Query())
    ->from('user')
    ->indexBy('username');

foreach ($query->batch() as $users) {
    // $users is indexed by the "username" column
}

foreach ($query->each() as $username => $user) {
    // ...
}
```

#### Limitations of batch query in MySQL <span id="batch-query-mysql"></span>

MySQL implementation of batch queries relies on the PDO driver library. By default, MySQL queries are 
[`buffered`](https://secure.php.net/manual/en/mysqlinfo.concepts.buffering.php). This defeats the purpose 
of using the cursor to get the data, because it doesn't prevent the whole result set from being 
loaded into the client's memory by the driver.

> Note: When `libmysqlclient` is used (typical of PHP5), PHP's memory limit won't count the memory 
  used for result sets. It may seem that batch queries work correctly, but in reality the whole 
  dataset is loaded into client's memory, and has the potential of using it up.

To disable buffering and reduce client memory requirements, PDO connection property 
`PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY` must be set to `false`. However, until the whole dataset has 
been retrieved, no other query can be made through the same connection. This may prevent `ActiveRecord` 
from making a query to get the table schema when it needs to. If this is not a problem 
(the table schema is cached already), it is possible to switch the original connection into 
unbuffered mode, and then roll back when the batch query is done.

```php
Yii::$app->db->pdo->setAttribute(\PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY, false);

// Do batch query

Yii::$app->db->pdo->setAttribute(\PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY, true);
```

> Note: In the case of MyISAM, for the duration of the batch query, the table may become locked, 
  delaying or denying write access for other connections. When using unbuffered queries, 
  try to keep the cursor open for as little time as possible.

If the schema is not cached, or it is necessary to run other queries while the batch query is 
being processed, you can create a separate unbuffered connection to the database:

```php
$unbufferedDb = new \yii\db\Connection([
    'dsn' => Yii::$app->db->dsn,
    'username' => Yii::$app->db->username,
    'password' => Yii::$app->db->password,
    'charset' => Yii::$app->db->charset,
]);
$unbufferedDb->open();
$unbufferedDb->pdo->setAttribute(\PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY, false);
```

If you want to ensure that the `$unbufferedDb` has exactly the same PDO attributes like the original 
buffered `$db` but the `PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_USE_BUFFERED_QUERY` is `false`, 
[consider a deep copy of `$db`](https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2/issues/8420#issuecomment-301423833), 
set it to false manually.

Then, queries are created normally. The new connection is used to run batch queries and retrieve 
results either in batches or one by one:

```php
// getting data in batches of 1000
foreach ($query->batch(1000, $unbufferedDb) as $users) {
    // ...
}


// data is fetched from server in batches of 1000, but is iterated one by one 
foreach ($query->each(1000, $unbufferedDb) as $user) {
    // ...
}
```

When the connection is no longer necessary and the result set has been retrieved, it can be closed:

```php
$unbufferedDb->close();
```

> Note: unbuffered query uses less memory on the PHP-side, but can increase the load on the MySQL server. 
It is recommended to design your own code with your production practice for extra massive data,
[for example, divide the range for integer keys, loop them with Unbuffered Queries](https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2/issues/8420#issuecomment-296109257).

### Adding custom Conditions and Expressions <span id="adding-custom-conditions-and-expressions"></span>

As it was mentioned in [Conditions – Object Format](#object-format) chapter, it is possible to create custom condition
classes. For example, let's create a condition that will check that specific columns are less than some value.
Using the operator format, it would look like the following:

```php
[
    'and',
    '>', 'posts', $minLimit,
    '>', 'comments', $minLimit,
    '>', 'reactions', $minLimit,
    '>', 'subscriptions', $minLimit
]
```

When such condition applied once, it is fine. In case it is used multiple times in a single query it can
be optimized a lot. Let's create a custom condition object to demonstrate it.

Yii has a [[yii\db\conditions\ConditionInterface|ConditionInterface]], that must be used to mark classes, that represent
a condition. It requires `fromArrayDefinition()` method implementation, in order to make possible to create condition
from array format. In case you don't need it, you can implement this method with exception throwing.

Since we create our custom condition class, we can build API that suits our task the most. 

```php
namespace app\db\conditions;

class AllGreaterCondition implements \yii\db\conditions\ConditionInterface
{
    private $columns;
    private $value;

    /**
     * @param string[] $columns Array of columns that must be greater, than $value
     * @param mixed $value the value to compare each $column against.
     */
    public function __construct(array $columns, $value)
    {
        $this->columns = $columns;
        $this->value = $value;
    }
    
    public static function fromArrayDefinition($operator, $operands)
    {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException('Not implemented yet, but we will do it later');
    }
    
    public function getColumns() { return $this->columns; }
    public function getValue() { return $this->vaule; }
}
```

So we can create a condition object:

```php
$conditon = new AllGreaterCondition(['col1', 'col2'], 42);
```

But `QueryBuilder` still does not know, to make an SQL condition out of this object.
Now we need to create a builder for this condition. It must implement [[yii\db\ExpressionBuilderInterface]]
that requires us to implement a `build()` method. 

```php
namespace app\db\conditions;

class AllGreaterConditionBuilder implements \yii\db\ExpressionBuilderInterface
{
    use \yii\db\ExpressionBuilderTrait; // Contains constructor and `queryBuilder` property.

    /**
     * @param ExpressionInterface $condition the condition to be built
     * @param array $params the binding parameters.
     * @return AllGreaterCondition
     */ 
    public function build(ExpressionInterface $expression, array &$params = [])
    {
        $value = $condition->getValue();
        
        $conditions = [];
        foreach ($expression->getColumns() as $column) {
            $conditions[] = new SimpleCondition($column, '>', $value);
        }

        return $this->queryBuilder->buildCondition(new AndCondition($conditions), $params);
    }
}
```

Then simple let [[yii\db\QueryBuilder|QueryBuilder]] know about our new condition – add a mapping for it to 
the `expressionBuilders` array. It could be done right from the application configuration:

```php
'db' => [
    'class' => 'yii\db\mysql\Connection',
    // ...
    'queryBuilder' => [
        'expressionBuilders' => [
            'app\db\conditions\AllGreaterCondition' => 'app\db\conditions\AllGreaterConditionBuilder',
        ],
    ],
],
```

Now we can use our condition in `where()`:

```php
$query->andWhere(new AllGreaterCondition(['posts', 'comments', 'reactions', 'subscriptions'], $minValue));
```

If we want to make it possible to create our custom condition using operator format, we should declare it in
[[yii\db\QueryBuilder::conditionClasses|QueryBuilder::conditionClasses]]:

```php
'db' => [
    'class' => 'yii\db\mysql\Connection',
    // ...
    'queryBuilder' => [
        'expressionBuilders' => [
            'app\db\conditions\AllGreaterCondition' => 'app\db\conditions\AllGreaterConditionBuilder',
        ],
        'conditionClasses' => [
            'ALL>' => 'app\db\conditions\AllGreaterCondition',
        ],
    ],
],
```

And create a real implementation of `AllGreaterCondition::fromArrayDefinition()` method 
in `app\db\conditions\AllGreaterCondition`:

```php
namespace app\db\conditions;

class AllGreaterCondition implements \yii\db\conditions\ConditionInterface
{
    // ... see the implementation above
     
    public static function fromArrayDefinition($operator, $operands)
    {
        return new static($operands[0], $operands[1]);
    }
}
```
    
After that, we can create our custom condition using shorter operator format:

```php
$query->andWhere(['ALL>', ['posts', 'comments', 'reactions', 'subscriptions'], $minValue]);
```

You might notice, that there was two concepts used: Expressions and Conditions. There is a [[yii\db\ExpressionInterface]]
that should be used to mark objects, that require an Expression Builder class, that implements
[[yii\db\ExpressionBuilderInterface]] to be built. Also there is a [[yii\db\condition\ConditionInterface]], that extends
[[yii\db\ExpressionInterface|ExpressionInterface]] and should be used to objects, that can be created from array definition
as it was shown above, but require builder as well.

To summarise:

- Expression – is a Data Transfer Object (DTO) for a dataset, that can be somehow compiled to some SQL 
statement (an operator, string, array, JSON, etc).
- Condition – is an Expression superset, that aggregates multiple Expressions (or scalar values) that can be compiled
to a single SQL condition.

You can create your own classes that implement [[yii\db\ExpressionInterface|ExpressionInterface]] to hide the complexity
of transforming data to SQL statements. You will learn more about other examples of Expressions in the
[next article](db-active-record.md);
