whereLikeMacro.php

 <?php
Builder::macro('whereLike', function ($attributes, string $searchTerm) {
    $this->where(function (Builder $query) use ($attributes, $searchTerm) {
        foreach (Arr::wrap($attributes) as $attribute) {
            $query->when(
                str_contains($attribute, '.'),

                function (Builder $query) use ($attribute, $searchTerm) {
                    $relations = explode('.', $attribute);
                    $is_top_level_relationship = true;

                    $deepSearch = function (Builder $query) use (&$relations, &$deepSearch, &$searchTerm, &$is_top_level_relationship) {
                        if (count($relations) > 1) {

                            if ($is_top_level_relationship) {
                                $is_top_level_relationship = false;
                                $query->orWhereHas(array_shift($relations),  $deepSearch);
                            } else {
                                $query->whereHas(array_shift($relations),  $deepSearch);
                            }

                        } else {

                            $query->where($relations[0], 'LIKE', "%{$searchTerm}%");
                            $is_top_level_relationship = true;

                        }
                    };

                    $deepSearch($query);
                },

                function (Builder $query) use ($attribute, $searchTerm) {
                    $query->orWhere($attribute, 'LIKE', "%{$searchTerm}%");
                }
            );
        }
    });

    return $this;
});

An improvement to Freek Van der Herteen's whereLike query builder macro. Instead of only being able to search on the first level of relationships, e.g user.name, this allows you to search on arbitrarily nested relationships e.g. post.user.name, comment.post.user.name, e.t.c

Thanks so much for this @praisedare, it makes my app search capabilities so much more powerful!! You are a master!

@praisedare - I was wondering, since orWhereHas() supports nested relationships, will it work if we tweak the part where $relationName and $relationAttribute are set in the original article?

Something like this:

$lastDotPosition = strrpos($attribute, '.');
$relationName = substr($attribute, 0, $lastDotPosition);
$relationAttribute = substr($attribute, $lastDotPosition + 1);