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(:color => '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.