Basic Search

_usage.php

<?php

/**
 * Single attribute...
 */

User::search('tim mac', 'email');

// same as...

User::where('email', 'LIKE', '%tim%')->where('email', 'LIKE', '%mac%');

/**
 * Multi attribute...
 */

User::search('tim mac', ['name', 'email']);

// same as...

User::where(function ($query) {
    $query->where('name', 'LIKE', '%tim%')->where('name', 'LIKE', '%mac%');
})->orWhere(function () {
    $query->where('email', 'LIKE', '%tim%')->where('email', 'LIKE', '%mac%');
});

/**
 * Quoted segments
 */

User::search('"tim mac" .com', 'email');

// same as...

User::where('email', 'LIKE', '%tim mac%')->where('email', 'LIKE', '%.com%');

Builder.php

<?php

namespace App\Builders;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder as BaseBuilder;

class Builder extends BaseBuilder
{
    public function search($term, $attributes)
    {
        $attributes = collect($attributes);

        // find any quoted terms "like this one"
        if (preg_match_all('/"[^"]*"/', $term, $terms) === false) {
            $terms = [[]];
        }

        // unwrap the found terms
        $terms = $terms[0];

        // remove the extracted quoted terms from the original input
        $term = str_replace($terms, '', $term);

        // strip out the surrounding quotes so '"like this"' becomes 'like this'
        $terms = collect($terms)->map(function ($term) {
            return str_replace('"', '', $term);
        });

        // add all other terms
        $terms = $terms->merge(explode(' ', $term))->filter();

        // make the magic happen
        $this->where(function ($query) use ($terms, $attributes) {
            $query->searchMultipleAttributes($terms, $attributes);
        });

        return $this;
    }

    protected function searchMultipleAttributes($terms, $attributes)
    {
        $attributes->each(function ($attribute) use ($terms) {
            $this->orWhere(function ($query) use ($terms, $attribute) {
                $query->searchSingleAttribute($terms, $attribute);
            });
        });
    }

    protected function searchSingleAttribute($terms, $attribute)
    {
        $terms->each(function ($term) use ($attribute) {
            $this->where($attribute, 'LIKE', "%{$term}%");
        });
    }
}