Laravel - Code snippet - SQL REGEXP search with users full name not only first & last

Controller.php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

// ....

public static function sanitizeAndPrepareForRegexSearch($searchQuery)
{
    // General input sanitization
    $sanitized = trim(filter_var($searchQuery, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING));
    // Reserved chars for regex operator
    $excludedChars = config('app.excluded_chars'); // ['(', ')', '[', ']', '#', '@', '?', '!', '_', '-', '/', '\\', '^', '~']
    $searchQuerySanitized = str_replace($excludedChars, '', $sanitized);

    // Optional manipulations:
    // tweaking the query to meet better results. like replacing '+' with the translated word 'plus'
    $searchQuerySanitized = trim(str_replace('+', ' '.trans('strings.plus_word').' ', $searchQuerySanitized));
    // Prepare for Regex search by replacing each space with pipe.
    $searchQueryRegex = preg_replace('/\s* \s*/', '|', $searchQuerySanitized);

    return $searchQueryRegex;
}

SomeController.php

// Main example.
if ($request->has('q') && ($searchKeyword = $request->input('q'))) {
  $searchQuery = Controller::sanitizeAndPrepareForRegexSearch($searchKeyword);
  $yourModel = $yourModel->whereRaw($columnName.' REGEXP "'.$searchQuery.'"');
}


// 2nd example. User search by full name.
$users = User::newModelInstance();// newModelInstance() or any other function/scopes/where closure(s).

if ($request->has('q') && ($searchKeyword = $request->input('q'))) {
    $searchQuery = Controller::sanitizeAndPrepareForRegexSearch($searchKeyword);
    $users = $users->searchInName($searchKeyword, $searchQuerySanitized);
}

User.php

    /**
     * @param $query
     * @param $searchQuerySanitized
     * @param $implodeSearchQuery
     * @param  bool  $isFull
     */
    public function scopeSearchInName($query, $searchQuerySanitized, $implodeSearchQuery, $isFull = true)
    {
        if ($searchQuerySanitized) {
            if ($isFull) {
                if (is_null($this->last)) {
                    $query->where(function ($query) use ($implodeSearchQuery) {
                        $query->whereRaw('users.first REGEXP "'.$implodeSearchQuery.'"');
                        $query->orWhereRaw('users.last REGEXP "'.$implodeSearchQuery.'"');
                    });
                    $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(CONCAT_WS(\' \',first,last), "'.$searchQuerySanitized.'") desc');
                    $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(first, "'.$this->first.'") desc');
                    $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(last, "'.$this->first.'") desc');
                } else {
                    $query->whereRaw('concat_ws(\' \',first,last) REGEXP "'.$implodeSearchQuery.'"');
                    $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(CONCAT_WS(\' \',first,last), "'.$searchQuerySanitized.'") desc');
                    $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(first, "'.$this->first.'") desc');
                    $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(last, "'.$this->last.'") desc');
                }
            } else {
                $query->whereRaw('concat_ws(\' \',first,last) REGEXP "'.$implodeSearchQuery.'"');
                $query->orderByRaw('FIELD(CONCAT_WS(\' \',first,last), "'.$searchQuerySanitized.'") desc');
            }
        }
    }