Inspect Model Modifications with isDirty(), wasChanged(), and getOriginal()

Use isDirty(), wasChanged(), and getOriginal() to inspect modified attributes, verify column changes, and retrieve pre-update database values.

When building model observers or audit logging systems, determining whether specific attributes were modified (such as detecting an email or subscription tier change) requires comparing pre-save and post-save model states.

Eloquent provides state inspection methods on every model.

Before Saving: isDirty() and getOriginal()

$user = User::find(1);
$user->email = '[email protected]';

// Check if any attributes or specific attributes were changed
if ($user->isDirty('email')) {
    // Retrieve previous value from database
    $oldEmail = $user->getOriginal('email');
    logger()->info("User {$user->id} changing email from {$oldEmail} to {$user->email}");
}

$user->save();

After Saving: wasChanged()

Inside model saved observers or after $model->save():

if ($user->wasChanged('email')) {
    // Send verification email to the new address
    $user->sendEmailVerificationNotification();
}

Summary

• isDirty('col'): Checks if attributes are modified in memory before saving.
• getOriginal('col'): Retrieves the unmodified attribute value as fetched from SQL.
• wasChanged('col'): Verifies if attributes were changed in the most recent save operation.