laravel/framework · error · InvalidArgumentException

Non-associative array passed to incrementEach method.

Error message

Non-associative array passed to incrementEach method.

What it means

incrementEach() needs column-name => amount pairs so it can wrap and reference each column. A list-style array (numeric keys) means there is no column name to update, so it throws InvalidArgumentException to refuse the call rather than emit ambiguous SQL.

Solutions

1. Pass an associative map with numeric amounts: ['views' => 1, 'clicks' => 1].
2. Convert a column list to a +1 map: array_fill_keys($columns, 1).
3. Use a single increment() loop if you really need per-column custom logic.

Example fix

// before
->incrementEach(['views', 'clicks'])

// after
->incrementEach(['views' => 1, 'clicks' => 1])

if (array_is_list($columns)) {
    throw new InvalidArgumentException('incrementEach requires column => amount pairs.');
}
$query->incrementEach($columns);

function isColumnAmountMap(array $a): bool
{
    foreach (array_keys($a) as $k) {
        if (! is_string($k)) {
            return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}

When it happens

Trigger: ->incrementEach([1, 2, 3]) (numeric keys), or ->incrementEach(['views', 'clicks']) where keys are the column names but values default to integer indices.

Common situations: Passing a flat list of column names expecting them to default to +1; passing the wrong variable (a list of names instead of a map); refactoring that loses the associative structure.

Related errors

• Non-associative array passed to decrementEach method.
• Non-numeric value passed as increment amount for column…
• Non-numeric value passed to increment method.
• A subquery must be a query builder instance, a Closure, or…
• $count records were found.

AI-assisted analysis of laravel/framework@e0f6eb3518 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/77d1f4a1d62c7e5f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Illuminate/Database/Query/Builder.php:4452

        return $this->incrementEach([$column => $amount], $extra);
    }

    /**
     * Increment the given column's values by the given amounts.
     *
     * @param  array<string, float|int|numeric-string>  $columns
     * @param  array<string, mixed>  $extra
     * @return int<0, max>
     *
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function incrementEach(array $columns, array $extra = [])
    {
        foreach ($columns as $column => $amount) {
            if (! is_numeric($amount)) {
                throw new InvalidArgumentException("Non-numeric value passed as increment amount for column: '$column'.");
            } elseif (! is_string($column)) {
                throw new InvalidArgumentException('Non-associative array passed to incrementEach method.');
            }

            $columns[$column] = $this->raw("{$this->grammar->wrap($column)} + $amount");
        }

        return $this->update(array_merge($columns, $extra));
    }

    /**
     * Decrement a column's value by a given amount.
     *
     * @param  string  $column
     * @param  float|int  $amount
     * @return int<0, max>
     *
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function decrement($column, $amount = 1, array $extra = [])

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