The issue comes from this line

$value is true in this case.

Dangers of using == instead of ===...

I think changing this would become a potential breaking change

Use whereStrict instead.

On the method:

Changing the call to the Collection@firstWhere() method to use the Collection@first() method, would solve the issue.

You can test it out using a macro:

Artisan::command('local:test', function () {
    Collection::macro('myValue', function ($key, $default = null) {
        if ($value = $this->first()) {
            return data_get($value, $key, $default);
        }

        return value($default);
    });

    $collection = collect([
        ["name" => "Tim", "balance" => 0],
        ["name" => "John", "balance" => 200],
    ]);

    dump(
        $collection->value("balance"),   // 200
        $collection->myValue("balance"), // 0
    );
});

But I doubt they would make this change on a patch release. The Collection@value() was added 3 years ago, on PR #42257, and there is a risk of breaking code relying on the current behavior.

You could:

• Use the macro above as a workaround for the behavior you expect, you can add it to a Service Provider so it is available throughout your project
• Send a PR to the master branch proposing a change for the next version
• Send a PR to the docs' repo, to clarify the expected behavior

The docs' description actually is over-simplified on the original PR's description.

Reference: https://laravel.com/docs/12.x/collections#method-value

And from what is currently on the docs, I'd also expect the behavior you described.

Maybe @stevebauman, who authored the PR which added the Collection@value() method, and is active within the community, can help out on clarifying the expected behavior. (BTW, if you read this, thanks for ImapEngine Steve, saved me a ton!)

Hey guys (thanks for ping @rodrigopedra)! Yea I would personally agree and consider this a bug. I would think it should return the first value where the key exists -- even if its value is null, so it operates like the Eloquent query method. Oversight on my part, my mistake!

Hard to say if this would be a breaking change since this would be the expected behavior imo!

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Thank you!

@phadaphunk are you sure the first implementation requirement was to return the value from first element even if not set? Because as it is now, it returns the first value that is loosely true by looking at elements starting from first element.

@macropay-solutions From the Documentation, it sure seems like this is what the intended behaviour was

The value method retrieves a given value from the first element of the collection

You're right to point that out tho. I think it should look for the first that has the matching key and return the value regardless of it being falsy or even null. I'll adjust.

Maybe this can solve this issue: #55512
@phadaphunk