New in Laravel 9.25: touch() on Query Builder

In one of the recent Laravel versions, they released an improvement to use the touch() method on Query Builder, and not only on Eloquent Model.

But, maybe some of you don't know what the touch() method does.

Generally, it is used if you don't want to update any data on your model, just save the fact that it was updated:

1$user = User::find($id);
2$user->touch();

It will be the same as doing:

1$user = User::find($id);
2$user->updated_at = now();
3$user->save();

You can also use touch() on any timestamp field, like $user->touch('activated_at');

Now, in Laravel 9.25, Steve Bauman suggested a PR to add the same functionality to the Query Builder, so you would be able to "mass-touch" many models, in one sentence:

1User::where('email', 'like', '%@company.com')->touch();

It would do the same update in the database, just by your query, and not a specific single model.