How to Filter Laravel Collections Object by Type Using whereInstanceOf

Laravel’s whereInstanceOf method offers a powerful, clean solution for filtering collections by object type. This functionality is particularly valuable when dealing with polymorphic relationships or collections containing mixed object types. By leveraging whereInstanceOf, you can simplify complex type filtering while keeping your codebase maintainable and easy to read.

Basic Example: Filtering Mixed Object Collections

Consider a collection that contains multiple types of objects. Using whereInstanceOf, you can filter out only the objects of a specific type:

use App\Models\User;  
use App\Models\Post;  
use Illuminate\Support\Collection;  

$collection = collect([      new User(['name' => 'John']),  
    new Post(['title' => 'Hello']),  
    new User(['name' => 'Jane']),  
]);  

$users = $collection->whereInstanceOf(User::class);  

// Result: Only User objects

This concise approach eliminates the need for manual type-checking, improving both performance and readability.

Real-World Use Case: Activity Feed Filtering

To demonstrate the true power of whereInstanceOf, let’s build an activity feed service that aggregates different types of…