instance method `first`

Ruby on Rails 4.1.16

Since v3.0.20

Available in: v3.0.20 v3.1.12 v3.2.22.5 v4.0.13 v4.1.16 v4.2.9 v5.2.8.1 v6.0.6 v6.1.7.10 v7.0.10 v7.1.6 v7.2.3 v8.0.4 v8.1.2

Compare with:

first(limit = nil)

Find the first record (or first N records if a parameter is supplied). If no order is defined it will order by primary key.

Person.first # returns the first object fetched by SELECT * FROM people
Person.where(["user_name = ?", user_name]).first
Person.where(["user_name = :u", { u: user_name }]).first
Person.order("created_on DESC").offset(5).first
Person.first(3) # returns the first three objects fetched by SELECT * FROM people LIMIT 3

Rails 3

Person.first # SELECT "people".* FROM "people" LIMIT 1

NOTE: Rails 3 may not order this query by the primary key and the order will depend on the database implementation. In order to ensure that behavior, use User.order(:id).first instead.

Rails 4

Person.first # SELECT "people".* FROM "people" ORDER BY "people"."id" ASC LIMIT 1

Parameters

limit opt = nil

Source

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/finder_methods.rb, line 128
    def first(limit = nil)
      if limit
        find_nth_with_limit(offset_value, limit)
      else
        find_nth(:first, offset_value)
      end
    end

Defined in activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/finder_methods.rb line 128 · View on GitHub · Improve this page · Find usages on GitHub

Defined in ActiveRecord::FinderMethods

Signature

Rails 3

Rails 4

Parameters