Select distinct with CakePHP
Sometimes you have to use SELECT DISTINCT to get the desired records from the database. How can you use SELECT DISTINCT with CakePHP?
The solution is rather simple:
$this->User->findAll(null, 'DISTINCT User.city');
Or with the array syntax:
$this->User->findAll(null, array('DISTINCT User.city'));
Please notice that the keyword “DISTINCT” has to be uppercase, else you will get the following error:
Unknown column 'distinct User.city'
How do you use DISTINCT in findCount()?
@Mandy: It is not possible, you have to use a custom query.
@cakebaker: on irc, gwoo said its possible using the array fields. also we could perhaps use find() and pass in count as condition.
[...] post is the answer to Mandy Singh’s comment to the article Select distinct with CakePHP in which he asked how to use “count” with “distinct”. The answer I gave [...]
@Mandy: See http://cakebaker.42dh.com/2007/08/06/using-distinct-and-count-with-cakephp/