The random method in Laravel allows you to retrieve a random number of items from a collection. By default, it returns only one item, but you can specify a different number. If multiple items are requested, a Collection instance is returned. If the requested number exceeds the total items in the collection, an InvalidArgumentException is thrown. Here's an example of how to use the random method in Laravel.

The keys method is used to retrieve the keys of all items in a collection. It returns a new Collection instance with the keys as its items. The behavior of the keys method is similar to PHP's array_keys function. You can use it to retrieve the keys from a collection, whether it contains indexed or associative arrays.

The uniqueStrict method in Laravel's Collection class allows you to retrieve all unique items in a collection using strict comparisons. It is similar to the unique method, but it only considers strict comparisons when determining uniqueness. You can also provide a key argument to restrict the conditional check.

The unique method in Laravel is used to obtain all the distinct items in a collection. It can be called with an optional argument to further filter the items returned. The method returns a new Collection object with the unique items. In a simple usage example, the method can be called on a collection to get all the unique items. The method is case-sensitive by default. It can also be invoked with a callback function to perform a case-insensitive check for uniqueness.

The max method in Laravel can be used to retrieve the maximum value of a given key. By default, the key is null and it behaves similarly to PHP's max function. In the first example, without specifying a key, the method returns the maximum value from the collection. In the second example, a key is specified and the method returns the maximum value based on that key.

The diffAssoc method in Laravel returns a new collection containing the items where the keys and values are not present in the provided arguments. It is similar to PHP's array_diff_assoc function. In the example usage, $newInformation will store any new information from the $contactInformation collection that is not found in the provided arguments.

Learn about the reverse method in Laravel's Collection class. This method is used to reverse the order of items in a collection. It returns a new Collection instance that contains the reversed items. The numerical keys are not preserved, but non-numerical keys are preserved.

The sortByDesc method is similar to the sortBy method, but it does not have a $descending parameter. Instead, it internally calls the sortBy method with true as the argument for the $descending parameter. Both methods allow you to sort a collection based on a callback function or a property. You can also use the sortByDesc method with higher order messages, allowing you to sort a collection in reverse order based on a property.

The sortBy method in Laravel allows you to sort a collection by a key or a value returned by a callback function. You can modify the sorting behavior using the $options parameter and choose whether to sort in ascending or descending order with the $descending parameter. The method returns a new instance of the Collection class with the items sorted and does not modify the original collection. Examples demonstrate sorting by name, number of followers, and using different sorting flags such as SORT_NUMERIC and SORT_STRING.

The sort method is used to sort a collection. By default, it uses a case-insensitive "natural order" algorithm. You can also provide a custom comparison function as an argument to the method. The original collection remains unchanged, and the method returns a new instance of Collection. The keys of the collection items are preserved during sorting. In the examples provided, the sort method is used to sort a collection of numbers in ascending order and a collection of people based on their age.

The chunk method in PHP is used to create smaller collections from larger collections. It takes two parameters: $size to control the size of each new collection, and $preserveKeys to indicate if the method should preserve array keys. By default, the method does not preserve array keys, but passing true as the second argument will include the original array keys in the resulting collections.

The proxy static method in Laravel's Collection class allows you to add additional methods to the list of methods that should be proxied for use with higher order messaging. These methods provide a cleaner syntax when invoking methods on collections of objects. For example, you can add the contains method to the list of proxied methods and then invoke it on a collection of objects using the -> syntax. Internally, the contains method will be executed on each object instance in the collection.

Learn how to use the times static method in Laravel's Collection class to easily create collections with a specified number of elements. The times method is similar to PHP's range function, but it provides additional functionality for collections. You can pass a $number argument to specify the number of elements and an optional $callback function to modify each element. Discover how to use the times method to populate a collection with a range of numbers or create a collection of Carbon date instances for the next few days. Be aware of potential duplicate dates when using the times method and consider storing the current date outside of the callback function.