README

A simple and lightweight SQL query builder library to make querying a database easier. It works as a middleman between your application and the database.

This has been kept very simple stupid (KISS), with minimal validation (PHP type errors only) to reduce complexity in the library and maximize performance for consumer developers. Therefore, please make sure to add your own validation if using user inputs in these queries.

Features

• Fluent, chainable query builder with simple, expressive syntax
• Support for SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE queries
• Support for columns, joins (INNER, LEFT, and RIGHT), where clauses, ordering, limiting, and paging
• Returns convenient collections for SELECT queries

Dependencies

• PHP 8.0+
• Composer
• PHP PDO
• MySQL 5+
• jpi/database v2

Installation

Use Composer

$ composer require jpi/query 

Usage

To create an instance, you will need an instance of \JPI\Database (which is an extension of PDO - you can find out more here) which is the first parameter, and the database table name as the second parameter. The same instance can be used multiple times as long as it's for the same database.

$queryBuilder = new \JPI\Database\Query\Builder($database, $table);

Action Methods:

These are the methods to call to end with select, count, insert, update & delete, all are pretty self-explanatory.

Builder methods

These are all fluent methods, so you can chain them together.

• table(string $table, string|null $alias): if you want to change to another table or didn't set when creating the instance
• column(string $column, string|null $alias): will select all columns if not set
• join($joinOrTable, string|null $on, string $type):
  • $joinOrTable: instance of \JPI\Database\Query\Clause\Join or the table name as string, use the class if you want multiple expressions in the ON clause
  • type: INNER (default), LEFT or RIGHT, usually you can leave blank, and use rightJoin or leftJoin methods
• where:
  • you can pass in the whole clause using the first parameter
  • or you can pass column, expression and value separately
• orderBy(string $column, bool $ascDirection = true)
• limit(int $limit, int|null $page)
• page(int): used to change the offset, only used if limit set

Examples

Assuming a \JPI\Database\Query\Builder instance has been created for the users database table and set to a variable named $queryBuilder.

select

This has 4 return types depending on how you use it:

• if you've set limit of 1 this will return an instance of \JPI\Database\Query\Result\Row or null if not found. The Row class can be used as an associative array of key (column) value pairs
• if paged/limited and the withPagination param (first param) isn't false then \JPI\Database\Query\Result\PaginatedCollection
• else \JPI\Database\Query\Result\Collection

PaginatedCollection & Collection work like a normal array just with some extra methods, see https://github.com/jahidulpabelislam/utils?tab=readme-ov-file#collection for more details. Both of these contain multiple instances of Row. PaginatedCollection has meta data on the limit used, page number and total count if not limited, and the collection is immutable.

// SELECT * FROM users;
$collection = $queryBuilder->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "id" => 1,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "last_name" => "Islam",
        "email" => "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        ...
    ],
    [
        "id" => 2,
        "first_name" => "Test",
        "last_name" => "Example",
        "email" => "test@example.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        ...
    ],
    ...
];
*/

// SELECT first_name, last_name FROM users;
$collection = $queryBuilder
    ->column("first_name")
    ->column("last_name")
    ->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "last_name" => "Islam",
    ],
    [
        "first_name" => "Test",
        "last_name" => "Example",
    ],
    ...
];
*/

// SELECT * FROM users WHERE status = "active";
$collection = $queryBuilder
    ->where("status", "=", "active")
    ->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "id" => 1,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "last_name" => "Islam",
        "email" => "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        "status" => "active",
        ...
    ],
    [
        "id" => 3,
        "first_name" => "Test",
        "last_name" => "Example",
        "email" => "test@example.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        "status" => "active",
        ...
    ],
    ...
];
*/

// SELECT * FROM users WHERE status = "active" ORDER BY last_name ASC;
$collection = $queryBuilder
    ->where("status", "=", "active")
    ->orderBy("last_name")
    ->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "id" => 3,
        "first_name" => "Test",
        "last_name" => "Example",
        "email" => "test@example.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        "status" => "active",
        ...
    ],
    [
        "id" => 1,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "last_name" => "Islam",
        "email" => "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        "status" => "active",
        ...
    ],
    ...
];
*/

// SELECT * FROM users WHERE status = "active" ORDER BY first_name ASC LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20;
$collection = $queryBuilder
    ->where("status", "=", "active")
    ->orderBy("first_name")
    ->limit(10, 3)
    ->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "id" => 31,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "last_name" => "Islam",
        "email" => "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        "status" => "active",
        ...
    ],
    [
        "id" => 30,
        "first_name" => "Test",
        "last_name" => "Example",
        "email" => "test@example.com",
        "password" => "password123",
        "status" => "active",
        ...
    ],
    ...
];
*/

// SELECT * FROM users WHERE first_name LIKE "%jahidul%" LIMIT 1;
$row = $queryBuilder
    ->where("first_name", "LIKE", "%jahidul%")
    ->limit(1)
    ->select();
/**
$row = [
    "id" => 1,
    "first_name" => "Jahidul",
    "last_name" => "Islam",
    "email" => "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com",
    "password" => "password",
    ...
];
*/

/**
SELECT * FROM users
INNER JOIN user_logins ON user_id = login_user_user_id;
*/
$queryBuilder->join("user_logins", "user_id = login_user_user_id");
$collection = $queryBuilder->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "id" => 1,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "login_user_id" => 1,
        "login_user_user_id" => 1,
        "login_user_date" => "2025-10-29 10:00:00",
        ...
    ],
    [
        "id" => 1,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "login_user_id" => 2,
        "login_user_user_id" => 1,
        "login_user_date" => "2025-11-01 12:00:00",
        ...
    ],
];

/**
SELECT * FROM users
INNER JOIN user_logins ON user_id = login_user_user_id AND login_user_date > '2025-11-01';
 */
$queryBuilder->join(
    $queryBuilder->newJoinClause("user_logins")
        ->on("user_id = login_user_user_id")
        ->on("login_user_date > '2025-11-01'")
);
$queryBuilder->select();
/**
$collection = [
    [
        "id" => 1,
        "first_name" => "Jahidul",
        "login_user_id" => 2,
        "login_user_user_id" => 1,
        "login_user_date" => "2025-11-01 12:00:00",
        ...
    ],
];

count

As the name implies this method will just return the count as an integer. By default it will do COUNT(*), but you can pass a column name or expression as the first parameter to count non-NULL values in a specific column or use expressions like DISTINCT.

For obvious reasons only the table & where builder methods are supported for this action.

// SELECT COUNT(*) as count FROM users;
$count = $queryBuilder->count();
// $count = 10;

// SELECT COUNT(*) as count FROM users WHERE status = "active";
$count = $queryBuilder
    ->where("status", "=", "active")
    ->count();
// $count = 5;

// SELECT COUNT(email) as count FROM users;
// Using column parameter to count non-NULL values in the email column
$count = $queryBuilder->count("email");
// $count = 10;

// SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT status) as count FROM users;
// Can use expressions in the column parameter
$count = $queryBuilder->count("DISTINCT status");
// $count = 2;

insert

This method will just return the id of the row created unless it fails then null.

Only the table builder method is supported for this action.

// INSERT INTO users SET first_name= "Jahidul", last_name= "Islam", email = "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com", password = "password";
$id = $queryBuilder->insert([
    "first_name" => "Jahidul",
    "last_name" => "Islam",
    "email" => "jahidul@jahidulpabelislam.com",
    "password" => "password",
]);
// $id = 1;

update

This method will return the count of how many rows have been updated by the query.

column & page builder methods aren't supported for this action.

// UPDATE users SET status = "inactive";
$numberOrRowsUpdated = $queryBuilder->update([
    "status" => "inactive",
]);
// $numberOrRowsUpdated = 10;

// UPDATE users SET first_name = "Pabel" WHERE id = 1;
$numberOrRowsUpdated = $queryBuilder
    ->where("id", "=", 1)
    ->update([
        "first_name" => "Pabel",
    ]);
// $numberOrRowsUpdated = 1;

delete

This method will return the count of how many rows have been deleted by the query.

column & page builder methods aren't supported for this action.

// DELETE FROM users;
$numberOrRowsDeleted = $queryBuilder->delete();
// $numberOrRowsDeleted = 10;

// DELETE FROM users WHERE id = 1;
$numberOrRowsDeleted = $queryBuilder
    ->where("id", "=", 1)
    ->delete();
// $numberOrRowsDeleted = 1;

Support

If you found this library interesting or useful please spread the word about this library: share on your socials, star on GitHub, etc.

If you find any issues or have any feature requests, you can open an issue or email me @ jahidulpabelislam.com 😏.

Authors

• Jahidul Pabel Islam me@jahidulpabelislam.com

Licence

This module is licensed under the General Public Licence - see the licence file for details.