Why, request return symbol — '?'

Question

Why any value in a variable $search return a character — ? ?

$search = 'words'
Post::where("description", 'like', "%".$search."%")->toSql();

Result:

"select * from `post` where `description` like ?"

Answer 1

The method toSql() does not include bindings, and therefore you're seeing the question mark in their place. To see the bindings, you can use getBindings() like so:

$search = 'words';
Post::where("description", 'like', "%".$search."%")->getBindings();