You can do this with two different ways.
Query Builder:
DB::table('messages AS a')
->leftJoin('messages AS b', function($join) {
$join->on('a.created_at', '<', 'b.created_at');
$join->on('a.key', '=', 'b.key');
})
->groupBy(['a.key', 'a.message', 'a.created_at'])
->havingRaw('COUNT(b.key) < 1')
->select(['a.key', 'a.message', 'a.created_at'])
->get();
Another way with PARTITION BY
SELECT
key,
message,
created_at
FROM (
SELECT
key,
message,
created_at,
rank() OVER (PARTITION BY key ORDER BY created_at DESC) AS rank
FROM
messages
) AS foo WHERE foo.rank = 1;
if we assume you have table like this.
postgres=# select * from messages;
id | key | message | created_at
----+---------+------------------------+----------------------------
1 | contact | send from contact page | 2015-10-31 19:45:16.850698
2 | contact | contact page message | 2015-10-31 19:45:34.417231
3 | product | product 1 | 2015-10-31 19:45:44.49584
4 | product | product 2 | 2015-10-31 19:45:46.856691
5 | contact | hello it is me | 2015-10-31 18:45:35.801967
6 | about | who are you | 2015-10-31 19:46:04.123369
7 | product | product 3 | 2015-10-31 19:46:12.414364
8 | about | hi guys | 2015-10-31 19:46:18.23442
(8 rows)
The result will be like this with two different query
postgres=# select key, message, created_at from (select key, message, created_at, rank() over (partition by key order by created_at desc) as rank from messages) foo where rank = 1;
key | message | created_at
---------+----------------------+----------------------------
about | hi guys | 2015-10-31 19:46:18.23442
contact | contact page message | 2015-10-31 19:45:34.417231
product | product 3 | 2015-10-31 19:46:12.414364
(3 rows)