In a recent tip, I shared how comparisons with NULL values might not work the way you expect.
My recommendation was to handle those rows explicitly with an extra whereNull clause.
MySQL also has a <=> operator built for null-safe equality, and my first instinct was that I would need whereRaw to reach for it.
Aaron questioned whether the raw clause was actually necessary, and that sent me digging.
It turns out Laravel added a whereNullSafeEquals method that compares a column to a value while treating two NULL values as equal.
It landed in a February 2026 pull request and isn't in the documentation yet, so it's easy to miss.
$query->whereNullSafeEquals('last_fired_on', $date);
The interesting part is what it compiles to. Every database engine handles null-safe equality differently, and this one method papers over all of them.
-- MySQL
where `last_fired_on` <=> ?
-- PostgreSQL
where "last_fired_on" is not distinct from ?
-- SQL Server
where exists (select [last_fired_on] intersect select ?)
There's a nice bonus.
MySQL's <=> operator is recognized as a first-class operator in a normal where call, and Laravel routes it through that same cross-database machinery.
$query->where('last_fired_on', '<=>', $date);
So the MySQL-looking operator isn't locking you to MySQL. It produces the exact same portable SQL the method does.
And for the not-equal case from the original tip, whereNot composes with it cleanly.
$query->whereNot('last_fired_on', '<=>', $date);
Here to help,
Joel
P.S. The subtle stuff is exactly what a fresh set of eyes catches in a Laravel code review.
