Method: ActiveRecord::FinderMethods#exists?

Defined in:
activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/finder_methods.rb

#exists?(conditions = :none) ⇒ Boolean

Returns true if a record exists in the table that matches the id or conditions given, or false otherwise. The argument can take six forms:

  • Integer - Finds the record with this primary key.

  • String - Finds the record with a primary key corresponding to this string (such as '5').

  • Array - Finds the record that matches these where-style conditions (such as ['name LIKE ?', "%#{query}%"]).

  • Hash - Finds the record that matches these where-style conditions (such as {name: 'David'}).

  • false - Returns always false.

  • No args - Returns false if the relation is empty, true otherwise.

For more information about specifying conditions as a hash or array, see the Conditions section in the introduction to ActiveRecord::Base.

Note: You can’t pass in a condition as a string (like name = 'Jamie'), since it would be sanitized and then queried against the primary key column, like id = 'name = \'Jamie\''.

Person.exists?(5)
Person.exists?('5')
Person.exists?(['name LIKE ?', "%#{query}%"])
Person.exists?(id: [1, 4, 8])
Person.exists?(name: 'David')
Person.exists?(false)
Person.exists?
Person.where(name: 'Spartacus', rating: 4).exists?

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 


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# File 'activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/finder_methods.rb', line 357

def exists?(conditions = :none)
  return false if @none

  if Base === conditions
    raise ArgumentError, <<-MSG.squish
      You are passing an instance of ActiveRecord::Base to `exists?`.
      Please pass the id of the object by calling `.id`.
    MSG
  end

  return false if !conditions || limit_value == 0

  if eager_loading?
    relation = apply_join_dependency(eager_loading: false)
    return relation.exists?(conditions)
  end

  relation = construct_relation_for_exists(conditions)
  return false if relation.where_clause.contradiction?

  skip_query_cache_if_necessary do
    with_connection do |c|
      c.select_rows(relation.arel, "#{name} Exists?").size == 1
    end
  end
end