Many-to-one relationshipsLink to this heading

To define a many-to-one relationship, use ForeignKey:

Code

from django.db import models

class Reporter(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    email = models.EmailField()

    def __str__(self):
        return "%s %s" % (self.first_name, self.last_name)

class Article(models.Model):
    headline = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    pub_date = models.DateField()
    reporter = models.ForeignKey(Reporter, on_delete=models.CASCADE)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.headline

    class Meta:
        ordering = ['headline']

What follows are examples of operations that can be performed using the Python API facilities.

Create a few Reporters:

Python console

>>> r = Reporter(first_name='John', last_name='Smith', email='john@example.com')
>>> r.save()

>>> r2 = Reporter(first_name='Paul', last_name='Jones', email='paul@example.com')
>>> r2.save()

Create an Article:

Python console

>>> from datetime import date
>>> a = Article(id=None, headline="This is a test", pub_date=date(2005, 7, 27), reporter=r)
>>> a.save()

>>> a.reporter.id
1

>>> a.reporter
<Reporter: John Smith>

Note that you must save an object before it can be assigned to a foreign key relationship. For example, creating an Article with unsaved Reporter raises ValueError:

Python console

>>> r3 = Reporter(first_name='John', last_name='Smith', email='john@example.com')
>>> Article.objects.create(headline="This is a test", pub_date=date(2005, 7, 27), reporter=r3)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValueError: save() prohibited to prevent data loss due to unsaved related object 'reporter'.

Article objects have access to their related Reporter objects:

Python console

>>> r = a.reporter

Create an Article via the Reporter object:

Python console

>>> new_article = r.article_set.create(headline="John's second story", pub_date=date(2005, 7, 29))
>>> new_article
<Article: John's second story>
>>> new_article.reporter
<Reporter: John Smith>
>>> new_article.reporter.id
1

Create a new article:

Python console

>>> new_article2 = Article.objects.create(headline="Paul's story", pub_date=date(2006, 1, 17), reporter=r)
>>> new_article2.reporter
<Reporter: John Smith>
>>> new_article2.reporter.id
1
>>> r.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: Paul's story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

Add the same article to a different article set - check that it moves:

Python console

>>> r2.article_set.add(new_article2)
>>> new_article2.reporter.id
2
>>> new_article2.reporter
<Reporter: Paul Jones>

Adding an object of the wrong type raises TypeError:

Python console

>>> r.article_set.add(r2)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
TypeError: 'Article' instance expected, got <Reporter: Paul Jones>

>>> r.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>
>>> r2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Paul's story>]>

>>> r.article_set.count()
2

>>> r2.article_set.count()
1

Note that in the last example the article has moved from John to Paul.

Related managers support field lookups as well. The API automatically follows relationships as far as you need. Use double underscores to separate relationships. This works as many levels deep as you want. There’s no limit. For example:

Python console

>>> r.article_set.filter(headline__startswith='This')
<QuerySet [<Article: This is a test>]>

# Find all Articles for any Reporter whose first name is "John".
>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__first_name='John')
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

Exact match is implied here:

Python console

>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__first_name='John')
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

Query twice over the related field. This translates to an AND condition in the WHERE clause:

Python console

>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__first_name='John', reporter__last_name='Smith')
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

For the related lookup you can supply a primary key value or pass the related object explicitly:

Python console

>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter=r)
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__in=[1,2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: Paul's story>, <Article: This is a test>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__in=[r,r2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: Paul's story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

You can also use a queryset instead of a literal list of instances:

Python console

>>> Article.objects.filter(reporter__in=Reporter.objects.filter(first_name='John')).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>

Querying in the opposite direction:

Python console

>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article=1)
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article=a)
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>

>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith='This')
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>, <Reporter: John Smith>, <Reporter: John Smith>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith='This').distinct()
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>

Counting in the opposite direction works in conjunction with distinct():

Python console

>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith='This').count()
3
>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith='This').distinct().count()
1

Queries can go round in circles:

Python console

>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__reporter__first_name__startswith='John')
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>, <Reporter: John Smith>, <Reporter: John Smith>, <Reporter: John Smith>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__reporter__first_name__startswith='John').distinct()
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__reporter=r).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>

If you delete a reporter, his articles will be deleted (assuming that the ForeignKey was defined with django.db.models.ForeignKey.on_delete set to CASCADE, which is the default):

Python console

>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: Paul's story>, <Article: This is a test>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.order_by('first_name')
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>, <Reporter: Paul Jones>]>
>>> r2.delete()
>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: John's second story>, <Article: This is a test>]>
>>> Reporter.objects.order_by('first_name')
<QuerySet [<Reporter: John Smith>]>

You can delete using a JOIN in the query:

Python console

>>> Reporter.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith='This').delete()
>>> Reporter.objects.all()
<QuerySet []>
>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet []>

Many-to-one relationshipsLink to this heading#

Many-to-one relationshipsLink to this heading