Method: ActiveRecord::QueryMethods::WhereChain#missing

Defined in:

lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb

#missing(*args) ⇒ Object

Returns a new relation with left outer joins and where clause to identify missing relations.

For example, posts that are missing a related author:

Post.where.missing(:author)
# SELECT "posts".* FROM "posts"
# LEFT OUTER JOIN "authors" ON "authors"."id" = "posts"."author_id"
# WHERE "authors"."id" IS NULL

Additionally, multiple relations can be combined. This will return posts that are missing both an author and any comments:

Post.where.missing(:author, :comments)
# SELECT "posts".* FROM "posts"
# LEFT OUTER JOIN "authors" ON "authors"."id" = "posts"."author_id"
# LEFT OUTER JOIN "comments" ON "comments"."post_id" = "posts"."id"
# WHERE "authors"."id" IS NULL AND "comments"."id" IS NULL

# File 'lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb', line 71

def missing(*args)
  args.each do |arg|
    reflection = @scope.klass._reflect_on_association(arg)
    opts = { reflection.table_name => { reflection.association_primary_key => nil } }
    @scope.left_outer_joins!(arg)
    @scope.where!(opts)
  end

  @scope
end