Data Structures in Laravel — Arrays, Collections, Queues and More Explained

Laravel relies heavily on organized data handling. From arrays to queues and collections, Laravel uses different data structures under the hood. Here’s a clear breakdown for better understanding and real-world usage.

📦 Arrays

Step 1: Arrays are used everywhere — in route files, config files, view parameters, and more.

Step 2: Laravel treats arrays like building blocks for defining structure, e.g.:
['name' => 'WebNestix', 'type' => 'blog']

Step 3: Arrays are passed to views:
return view('home', ['user' => $user]);

🌀 Collections

Step 1: Collections are advanced wrappers around arrays, offering fluent method chaining.

Step 2: Create with:
$collection = collect([1, 2, 3]);

Step 3: Useful methods include map(), filter(), pluck(), sum(), groupBy(), etc.

Step 4: Collections are returned automatically from Eloquent queries:
$users = User::where('status', 'active')->get();

⏳ Queues

Step 1: Laravel supports queues for handling background tasks like emails or exports.

Step 2: A queue behaves like a data structure (FIFO — first in, first out).

Step 3: Dispatch jobs with:
dispatch(new SendWelcomeEmail($user));

Step 4: Queues can be backed by database, Redis, or SQS.

📚 Stack and Pipeline

Step 1: Middleware in Laravel runs through a stack (LIFO) structure.

Step 2: Laravel also has a Pipeline class for sending data through a chain of transformations.

Step 3: Example pipeline syntax:
Pipeline::send($data)->through([...])->thenReturn();

🧭 Caching & Config as Data

Step 1: Laravel config files are structured arrays.

Step 2: Laravel cache drivers (Redis, file, DB) use underlying storage formats like key-value pairs (map structure).

Step 3: You can store arrays or collections directly in cache:
Cache::put('users', $users, now()->addMinutes(10));

🧠 Summary

- Arrays = native structure for configs, params, view data
- Collections = powerful wrapper for array processing
- Queues = async FIFO task handler
- Stack/Pipeline = sequential logic processing
- Cache = key-value storage structure

Understanding Laravel's internal data structures improves both performance and code readability.