BelongsToArrayColumn

belongsToArrayColumn() is the inverse of hasManyArrayColumn(): a model "belongs to" the rows whose array column contains its key.

Signature

public function belongsToArrayColumn(
    string $related,
    ?string $foreignKey,
    ?string $localKey,
    bool $isString = false,
): BelongsToArrayColumn
Argument Description
$related The related model class (e.g. User::class)
$foreignKey Your own primary key used to match inside the array (id)
$localKey The other table's array column (e.g. companies)
$isString Set to true when the array column holds string values ("7", "71") while your key is an integer

Example

A Company whose founders are the users whose companies array contains its id:

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use MrPunyapal\LaravelExtendedRelationships\HasExtendedRelationships;

class Company extends Model
{
    use HasExtendedRelationships;

    public function companyFounders()
    {
        return $this->belongsToArrayColumn(
            related: User::class,
            foreignKey: 'id',
            localKey: 'companies',
            // optional: true when the array stores stringified ids
            isString: true,
        );
    }
}

$company = Company::with('companyFounders')->find(71);

// users whose companies column contains 71
$company->companyFounders;

The isString flag matters when the array column contains values such as ["7", "71"] but your model's key is the integer 7 — without it the match would silently fail.