[php] How to select rows where column value IS NOT NULL using CodeIgniter's ActiveRecord?

I'm using CodeIgniter's Active Record class to query the MySQL database. I need to select the rows in a table where a field is not set to NULL:

$this->db->where('archived !=', 'NULL');
$q = $this->db->get('projects');

That only returns this query:

SELECT * FROM projects WHERE archived != 'NULL';

The archived field is a DATE field.

Is there a better way to solve this? I know I can just write the query myself, but I want to stick with the Active Record throughout my code.

You can do (if you want to test NULL)

$this->db->where_exec('archived IS NULL) 

If you want to test NOT NULL

$this->db->where_exec('archived IS NOT NULL) 

Null must not be set to string...

$this->db->where('archived IS NOT', null);

It works properly when null is not wrapped into quotes.

$this->db->or_where('end_date IS', 'NULL', false);

Codeigniter generates an "IS NULL" query by just leaving the call with no parameters:

$this->db->where('column');

The generated query is:

WHERE `column` IS NULL

The Active Record definitely has some quirks. When you pass an array to the $this->db->where() function it will generate an IS NULL. For example:

$this->db->where(array('archived' => NULL));

produces

WHERE `archived` IS NULL 

The quirk is that there is no equivalent for the negative IS NOT NULL. There is, however, a way to do it that produces the correct result and still escapes the statement:

$this->db->where('archived IS NOT NULL');

produces

WHERE `archived` IS NOT NULL

Much better to use following:

For is not null:

where('archived IS NOT NULL', null);

For is null:

where('archived', null);

And just to give you yet another option, you can use NOT ISNULL(archived) as your WHERE filter.

CodeIgniter 3

Only:

$this->db->where('archived IS NOT NULL');

The generated query is:

WHERE archived IS NOT NULL;

$this->db->where('archived IS NOT NULL',null,false); << Not necessary

Inverse:

$this->db->where('archived');

The generated query is:

WHERE archived IS NULL;

One way to check either column is null or not is

$this->db->where('archived => TRUE);
$q = $this->db->get('projects');

in php if column has data, it can be represent as True otherwise False To use multiple comparison in where command and to check if column data is not null do it like

here is the complete example how I am filter columns in where clause (Codeignitor). The last one show Not NULL Compression

$where = array('somebit' => '1', 'status' => 'Published', 'archived ' => TRUE );
$this->db->where($where);