Laravel: Find exact match, case sensitive - sql

Question

This code works but it is not sensitive to case/capitalization.
public function search(){
if ($search = \Request::get('q')) {
$patrons = Patron::where(function($query) use ($search){
$query->where('barcode','=',"$search")
})->paginate(20);
}else{
$patrons = Patron::latest()->paginate(5);
}
return $patrons;
}
Example
Searching for 'banana123' should NOT be equal to 'BaNaNa123' and should return 0.
How can we make the search exact match? Thank you.

Answer 1

You have to use BINARY
use DB;
...
public function search(){
if ($search = \Request::get('q')) {
$patrons = Patron::where(function($query) use ($search){
$query->whereRaw("BINARY `barcode` = '$search'");
// or
// $query->where(DB::raw("BINARY `barcode`), $search);
})->paginate(20);
}else{
$patrons = Patron::latest()->paginate(5);
}
return $patrons;
}
Also if you are using one where and not chaining it to other conditions you don't need to use function inside where. you can simply write:
use DB;
...
public function search(){
if ($search = \Request::get('q')) {
$patrons = Patron::where(DB::raw("BINARY `barcode`"), $search)->paginate(20);
}else{
$patrons = Patron::latest()->paginate(5);
}
return $patrons;
}