scoped

Returns an anonymous \scope.

  posts = Post.scoped
  posts.size # Fires "select count(*) from  posts" and returns the count
  posts.each {|p| puts p.name } # Fires "select * from posts" and loads post objects

  fruits = Fruit.scoped
  fruits = fruits.where(:colour => 'red') if options[:red_only]
  fruits = fruits.limit(10) if limited?

Anonymous \scopes tend to be useful when procedurally generating complex queries, where passing intermediate values (\scopes) around as first-class objects is convenient.

You can define a \scope that applies to all finders using ActiveRecord::Base.default_scope.