Laravel 5 Collections: Getting the Last Collection Element With last

The last method is the logical opposite of the first method, and is used to get the last item in a collection, or to get the last item in a collection that matches a certain criteria. A $callback can be supplied to return the last item in the collection that matches a given truth test. Additionally, an optional $default argument can be passed that will be returned if there are no items that match the given criteria.

#Signature

1public function last(
2    callable $callback = null,
3    $default = null
4);

#Example Use

The following example shows how to get the last item in a collection:

1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
2 
3// Create a new collection instance.
4$collection = new Collection([
5    'first', 'second', 'third'
6]);
7 
8// third
9$value = $collection->last();

If the collection is empty (having no items), the last method will return null:

1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
2 
3// Create an empty collection.
4$collection = new Collection([]);
5 
6// null
7$value = $collection->last();

The $default parameter cannot be used when trying to get the last item in an empty collection:

1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
2 
3// Create an empty collection.
4$collection = new Collection([]);
5 
6// null
7$value = $collection->last(null, 'default-value');

A $callback argument can be passed to provide a truth test when evaluating which item should be returned last:

 1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
 2 
 3// Create a new collection instance.
 4$collection = new Collection([
 5    'first', 'second', 'third'
 6]);
 7 
 8// second
 9$value = $collection->last(function($key, $value) {
10    return strlen($value) > 5;
11});

The $default parameter can be used in conjunction with the $callback parameter to return a default value when there are no items in a collection that pass the given truth test:

 1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
 2 
 3// null
 4$value = $collection->last(function($key, $value) {
 5    return strlen($value) > 10;
 6});
 7 
 8// default-value
 9$value = $collection->last(function($key, $value) {
10    return strlen($value) > 10;
11}, 'default-value');

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