README

Smart PostgreSQL search for Laravel with text normalization and relationship support.

✨ Why This Package?

• ???? Smart matching: Find "Jane Doe" even when stored as "Jane-Doe"
• ???? Phone numbers: Search "1234567890" matches "(123) 456-7890"
• ???? Relationships: Search across related models seamlessly
• ⚡ PostgreSQL optimized: Uses ILIKE and REGEXP_REPLACE for performance
• ????️ Safe fallback: Works on non-PostgreSQL databases (no-op)

???? Quick Start

Install

composer require provydon/laravel-pgsearch

Use Immediately

// Search users User::query()->pgSearch('john doe', ['name', 'email'])->get(); // Search with relationships  Post::query()->pgSearch('jane', ['title', 'user.name'])->get(); // Phone number search User::query()->pgSearch('1234567890', ['phone'])->get(); // Or use the helper function pg_search(User::query(), 'john doe', ['name', 'email'])->get();

That's it! No configuration needed.

???? Support

If this package helped you, consider supporting its development:

???? Usage Examples

Basic Search

// Single column User::query()->pgSearch('john', ['name'])->get(); // Multiple columns User::query()->pgSearch('example', ['name', 'email'])->get();

Relationship Search

// Search posts by author name Post::query()->pgSearch('jane doe', ['title', 'user.name'])->get(); // Search orders by customer info Order::query()->pgSearch('smith', ['number', 'customer.name', 'customer.email'])->get();

Advanced Options

// Disable text normalization User::query()->pgSearch('exact-match', ['name'], ['normalize' => false])->get(); // Chain with other query methods User::query() ->where('active', true) ->pgSearch('john', ['name']) ->orderBy('created_at') ->paginate(15);

Helper Function

For convenience, you can also use the pg_search() helper function:

// Using the helper function $users = pg_search(User::query(), 'john doe', ['name', 'email'])->get(); // With options $users = pg_search(User::query(), 'john', ['name'], ['normalize' => false])->get(); // In controllers public function search(Request $request) { $query = User::query()->where('active', true); if ($request->has('search')) { $query = pg_search($query, $request->search, ['name', 'email']); } return $query->paginate(15); }

???? Configuration (Optional)

Publish config to customize behavior:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=pgsearch-config

// config/pgsearch.php return [ 'normalize' => true, // Enable smart text matching ];

???? How It Works

The package performs intelligent PostgreSQL searches:

Real-World Examples

// These all find the same user: User::query()->pgSearch('Jane Doe', ['name'])->get(); // Direct match User::query()->pgSearch('jane doe', ['name'])->get(); // Case insensitive  User::query()->pgSearch('janedoe', ['name'])->get(); // Normalized match // Phone number variations: User::query()->pgSearch('1234567890', ['phone'])->get(); // Finds all these: // "(123) 456-7890", "123-456-7890", "123.456.7890", "123 456 7890"

???? Requirements

• Laravel: 10.0+, 11.0+, or 12.0+
• PHP: 8.1+
• Database: PostgreSQL (graceful fallback for others)

⚡ Performance Tips

For frequently searched columns, add expression indexes to speed up normalized searches:

-- For phone number searches CREATE INDEX users_phone_normalized_idx ON users (REGEXP_REPLACE(phone::text, '[^a-zA-Z0-9]', '', 'g')); -- For name searches  CREATE INDEX users_name_normalized_idx ON users (REGEXP_REPLACE(name::text, '[^a-zA-Z0-9]', '', 'g'));

Important: Use the exact same expression as in the search query for optimal performance.

???? Testing

# Create test database createdb pg-search # Run tests composer test

???? License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Made with ❤️ for the Laravel community