Laravel 5 Collections: Retrieving Collection Elements With all

The all method can be used to retrieve the underlying array that the collection is using to hold its data.

#Signature

The signature of the all method is:

1public function all();

#Example Use

The following code demonstrates the usage of the all method:

 1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
 2 
 3$items = [
 4    'first' => 'I am first',
 5    'second' => 'I am second'
 6];
 7 
 8$collection = Collection::make($items);
 9 
10$returnedItems = $collection->all();

After the above code has been executed, the $returnedItems variable would hold the following value:

1array
2  'first'  => string 'I am first'
3  'second' => string 'I am second'

We can also verify that the two arrays are indeed equal:

1// true
2$areEqual = $items === $returnedItems;

It should also be noted that the all method will preserve any nested collections:

 1use Illuminate\Support\Collection;
 2 
 3$items = [
 4    'first' => 'I am first',
 5    'second' => 'I am second',
 6    'third' => new Collection([
 7            'first' => 'I am nested'
 8    ])
 9];
10 
11$collection = Collection::make($items);
12 
13$returnedItems = $collection->all();

At this point, the $returnedItems variable would a value similar to the following:

1array
2  'first'  => string 'I am first'
3  'second' => string 'I am second'
4  'third'  =>
5    object(Illuminate\Support\Collection)
6      protected 'items' =>
7        array
8          'first' => string 'I am nested'

To return an array, and have any nested collections converted to arrays, see the toArray method.

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