Answers for "laravel checking if a record exists and update new data"

laravel check record exists

$user = User::where('email', '=', Input::get('email'))->first();
if ($user === null) {
   // user doesn't exist
}

laravel check if record exists

if (DB::table('orders')->where('finalized', 1)->exists()) {
    // ...
}
 
if (DB::table('orders')->where('finalized', 1)->doesntExist()) {
    // ...
}