ActiveRecord Ranges 18 Jun 2011
Just a quick one today, I’m going to mention a quick trick you may have heard about, but is definitely worth knowing.
When using ActiveRecord as well as passing a String/Integer or Array into a query you can also use a Range.
I find this particularly helpful when searching by date.
For example instead of:
Widget.where('created_at > ? AND created_at < ?', 2.hours.ago, Time.now)
#=> SELECT "widgets".* FROM "widgets" WHERE (created_at > '2011-06-18 03:38:58.493361' AND created_at < '2011-06-18 05:38:58.493442')You can use a range, e.g.
Widget.where(:created_at => 2.hours.ago..Time.now)
#=> SELECT "widgets".* FROM "widgets" WHERE ("widgets"."created_at" BETWEEN '2011-06-18 03:36:53.551349' AND '2011-06-18 05:36:53.551489')Notice how using an inclusive range produces a SQL BETWEEN query.
Using an exclusive range gives a different query.
Widget.where(:created_at => 2.hours.ago...Time.now)
#=> SELECT "widgets".* FROM "widgets" WHERE ("widgets"."created_at" >= '2011-06-11 05:25:12.738961' AND "widgets"."created_at" < '2011-06-18 05:25:12.739321')Use carefully.
For an interesting use of this check out one of the new methods added to Rails 3.1 check out Date.today.all_day added here.
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