preg_match_all in all input fields - php

Question

I use preg_match_all to find the usernames in the 'body' and save them in a database. How can I find the usernames in several input fields, for example: body, title and article? And how can I save the found references to the database without saving duplicate entries?
if ($post) {
preg_match_all('/\B#(\w+)/', $request->get('body'), $mentionedUsers);
foreach ($mentionedUsers[1] as $mentionedUser) {
$foundUser = User::where('username', $mentionedUser)->first();
if(!$foundUser){
continue;
}
$foundUserId = $foundUser->id;
$mentionedUser_save = new Mentioned_post_user;
$mentionedUser_save->user_id_lead = Auth::user()->id;
$mentionedUser_save->user_id = $foundUserId;
$mentionedUser_save->post_id = $post->id;
$mentionedUser_save->save();
}
}

Answer 1

You can utilize whereIn('user_name', $mentionedUsers) instead of running foreach.
if ($post) {
// assuming this line works and mentioned users are in $mentionedUsers[1]
preg_match_all('/\B#(\w+)/', $request->get('body'), $mentionedUsers);
$foundUsers = User::whereIn('username', $mentionedUsers[1])->get();
if ($foundUsers) {
foreach ($foundUsers as $foundUser) {
$foundUserId = $foundUser->id;
$mentionedUser_save = new Mentioned_post_user;
$mentionedUser_save->user_id_lead = Auth::user()->id;
$mentionedUser_save->user_id = $foundUserId;
$mentionedUser_save->post_id = $post->id;
$mentionedUser_save->save();
}
}
}
Otherwise, you'd need to get unique values of $mentionedUsers[1] with array_unique(). (I'd suggest the solution above)
Edit: Sorry a thought your problem was different. For your solution, the approach I'd use is combine all inputs.
$theString = "$request->body $request->title $request->article";
preg_match_all('/\B#(\w+)/', $theString, $mentionedUsers);
$userNamesArray = array_unique($mentionedUsers[1]);
$foundUsers = User::whereIn('username', $userNamesArray)->get();