many-to-many relationschop in laravel eloquent does not work with pluck() - laravel

Question

I have a many to many relationshhip between 2 tables in laravel.
I just want to get the name of the afdeling with user_id=45.
I tried
$afdelingen = User::find(45)->afdelingen->pluck('name');
but is does not work. It works without the pluck but then i get a long string:
[{"id":3,"afdelingen":"Personeelszaken","user_id":0,"pivot":{"user_id":45,"afdeling_id":3}}]
How can i just get
Model 1 code:
<?php
class Afdeling extends Eloquent {
protected $guarded = array();
public static $rules = array();
protected $connection = 'mysql2';
protected $table = 'afdelingen';
public function users(){
return $this->belongstoMany('User','afdeling_user','afdeling_id');
}
}
Model 2 code:
<?php
use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;
class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface {
/**
* The database table used by the model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $connection = 'mysql2';
protected $table = 'users';
//public function safetyreports(){
// return $this->hasMany('Safetyreport');
//}
public function afdelingen(){
return $this->belongstoMany('Afdeling','afdeling_user','user_id');
}
/**
* The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $hidden = array('password');
/**
* Get the unique identifier for the user.
*
* #return mixed
*/
public function getAuthIdentifier()
{
return $this->getKey();
}
/**
* Get the password for the user.
*
* #return string
*/
public function getAuthPassword()
{
return $this->password;
}
/**
* Get the e-mail address where password reminders are sent.
*
* #return string
*/
public function getReminderEmail()
{
return $this->email;
}
}

Answer 1

Since it's a many to many relationship, $afdelingen = User::find(45)->afdelingen->pluck('name'); will have a collection of afdelingen, not just one.
You can get the first one by using $afdelingen = User::find(45)->afdelingen()->first()->pluck('name');
Additionally, you can loop to grab all their names.
foreach(User::find(45)->afdelingen as $item) {
$afdelingen = $item->pluck('name');
}
Or if you want an array of the names...
$afdelingen = User::find(45)->afdelingen()->lists('name');