method

find_or_create_by

Importance_3
find_or_create_by(attributes, &block) public

Finds the first record with the given attributes, or creates a record with the attributes if one is not found:

# Find the first user named "Penélope" or create a new one.
User.find_or_create_by(first_name: 'Penélope')
# => #<User id: 1, first_name: "Penélope", last_name: nil>

# Find the first user named "Penélope" or create a new one.
# We already have one so the existing record will be returned.
User.find_or_create_by(first_name: 'Penélope')
# => #<User id: 1, first_name: "Penélope", last_name: nil>

# Find the first user named "Scarlett" or create a new one with
# a particular last name.
User.create_with(last_name: 'Johansson').find_or_create_by(first_name: 'Scarlett')
# => #<User id: 2, first_name: "Scarlett", last_name: "Johansson">

This method accepts a block, which is passed down to #create. The last example above can be alternatively written this way:

# Find the first user named "Scarlett" or create a new one with a
# different last name.
User.find_or_create_by(first_name: 'Scarlett') do |user|
  user.last_name = 'Johansson'
end
# => #<User id: 2, first_name: "Scarlett", last_name: "Johansson">

This method always returns a record, but if creation was attempted and failed due to validation errors it won’t be persisted, you get what #create returns in such situation.

Please note *this method is not atomic*, it runs first a SELECT, and if there are no results an INSERT is attempted. If there are other threads or processes there is a race condition between both calls and it could be the case that you end up with two similar records.

Whether that is a problem or not depends on the logic of the application, but in the particular case in which rows have a UNIQUE constraint an exception may be raised, just retry:

begin
  CreditAccount.transaction(requires_new: true) do
    CreditAccount.find_or_create_by(user_id: user.id)
  end
rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotUnique
  retry
end
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June 19, 2015
1 thank

Use :where or any defined scope before :find_or_create_by

You can chain find_or_create_by with :where, or any custom scope.

E.g.:

User.where(girls: true).find_or_create_by(first_name: ‘Scarlett’)

scope :celebrities, -> { where(celebrity: true) }

User.celebrities.create_with(last_name: ‘Johansson’).find_or_create_by(first_name: ‘Scarlett’)

May 18, 2015
0 thanks

Are those supported versions correct?

It seems like this method was supported in versions prior to 4.0.2.

UPDATE never mind, wish I could delete this comment..