path: root/docs/ref/models/conditional-expressions.txt

=======================
Conditional Expressions
=======================

.. currentmodule:: django.db.models.expressions

Conditional expressions let you use :keyword:`if` ... :keyword:`elif` ...
:keyword:`else` logic within filters, annotations, aggregations, and updates. A
conditional expression evaluates a series of conditions for each row of a
table and returns the matching result expression. Conditional expressions can
also be combined and nested like other :doc:`expressions <expressions>`.

The conditional expression classes
==================================

We'll be using the following model in the subsequent examples::

    from django.db import models

    class Client(models.Model):
        REGULAR = 'R'
        GOLD = 'G'
        PLATINUM = 'P'
        ACCOUNT_TYPE_CHOICES = (
            (REGULAR, 'Regular'),
            (GOLD, 'Gold'),
            (PLATINUM, 'Platinum'),
        )
        name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
        registered_on = models.DateField()
        account_type = models.CharField(
            max_length=1,
            choices=ACCOUNT_TYPE_CHOICES,
            default=REGULAR,
        )

When
----

.. class:: When(condition=None, then=None, **lookups)

A ``When()`` object is used to encapsulate a condition and its result for use
in the conditional expression. Using a ``When()`` object is similar to using
the :meth:`~django.db.models.query.QuerySet.filter` method. The condition can
be specified using :ref:`field lookups <field-lookups>` or
:class:`~django.db.models.Q` objects. The result is provided using the ``then``
keyword.

Some examples::

    >>> from django.db.models import When, F, Q
    >>> # String arguments refer to fields; the following two examples are equivalent:
    >>> When(account_type=Client.GOLD, then='name')
    >>> When(account_type=Client.GOLD, then=F('name'))
    >>> # You can use field lookups in the condition
    >>> from datetime import date
    >>> When(registered_on__gt=date(2014, 1, 1),
    ...      registered_on__lt=date(2015, 1, 1),
    ...      then='account_type')
    >>> # Complex conditions can be created using Q objects
    >>> When(Q(name__startswith="John") | Q(name__startswith="Paul"),
    ...      then='name')

Keep in mind that each of these values can be an expression.

.. note::

    Since the ``then`` keyword argument is reserved for the result of the
    ``When()``, there is a potential conflict if a
    :class:`~django.db.models.Model` has a field named ``then``. This can be
    resolved in two ways::

        >>> from django.db.models import Value
        >>> When(then__exact=0, then=1)
        >>> When(Q(then=0), then=1)

Case
----

.. class:: Case(*cases, **extra)

A ``Case()`` expression is like the :keyword:`if` ... :keyword:`elif` ...
:keyword:`else` statement in ``Python``. Each ``condition`` in the provided
``When()`` objects is evaluated in order, until one evaluates to a
truthful value. The ``result`` expression from the matching ``When()`` object
is returned.

A simple example::

    >>>
    >>> from datetime import date, timedelta
    >>> from django.db.models import CharField, Case, Value, When
    >>> Client.objects.create(
    ...     name='Jane Doe',
    ...     account_type=Client.REGULAR,
    ...     registered_on=date.today() - timedelta(days=36))
    >>> Client.objects.create(
    ...     name='James Smith',
    ...     account_type=Client.GOLD,
    ...     registered_on=date.today() - timedelta(days=5))
    >>> Client.objects.create(
    ...     name='Jack Black',
    ...     account_type=Client.PLATINUM,
    ...     registered_on=date.today() - timedelta(days=10 * 365))
    >>> # Get the discount for each Client based on the account type
    >>> Client.objects.annotate(
    ...     discount=Case(
    ...         When(account_type=Client.GOLD, then=Value('5%')),
    ...         When(account_type=Client.PLATINUM, then=Value('10%')),
    ...         default=Value('0%'),
    ...         output_field=CharField(),
    ...     ),
    ... ).values_list('name', 'discount')
    [('Jane Doe', '0%'), ('James Smith', '5%'), ('Jack Black', '10%')]

``Case()`` accepts any number of ``When()`` objects as individual arguments.
Other options are provided using keyword arguments. If none of the conditions
evaluate to ``TRUE``, then the expression given with the ``default`` keyword
argument is returned. If no ``default`` argument is provided, ``Value(None)``
is used.

If we wanted to change our previous query to get the discount based on how long
the ``Client`` has been with us, we could do so using lookups::

    >>> a_month_ago = date.today() - timedelta(days=30)
    >>> a_year_ago = date.today() - timedelta(days=365)
    >>> # Get the discount for each Client based on the registration date
    >>> Client.objects.annotate(
    ...     discount=Case(
    ...         When(registered_on__lte=a_year_ago, then=Value('10%')),
    ...         When(registered_on__lte=a_month_ago, then=Value('5%')),
    ...         default=Value('0%'),
    ...         output_field=CharField(),
    ...     )
    ... ).values_list('name', 'discount')
    [('Jane Doe', '5%'), ('James Smith', '0%'), ('Jack Black', '10%')]

.. note::

    Remember that the conditions are evaluated in order, so in the above
    example we get the correct result even though the second condition matches
    both Jane Doe and Jack Black. This works just like an :keyword:`if` ...
    :keyword:`elif` ... :keyword:`else` statement in ``Python``.

Advanced queries
================

Conditional expressions can be used in annotations, aggregations, lookups, and
updates. They can also be combined and nested with other expressions. This
allows you to make powerful conditional queries.

Conditional update
------------------

Let's say we want to change the ``account_type`` for our clients to match
their registration dates. We can do this using a conditional expression and the
:meth:`~django.db.models.query.QuerySet.update` method::

    >>> a_month_ago = date.today() - timedelta(days=30)
    >>> a_year_ago = date.today() - timedelta(days=365)
    >>> # Update the account_type for each Client from the registration date
    >>> Client.objects.update(
    ...     account_type=Case(
    ...         When(registered_on__lte=a_year_ago,
    ...              then=Value(Client.PLATINUM)),
    ...         When(registered_on__lte=a_month_ago,
    ...              then=Value(Client.GOLD)),
    ...         default=Value(Client.REGULAR)
    ...     ),
    ... )
    >>> Client.objects.values_list('name', 'account_type')
    [('Jane Doe', 'G'), ('James Smith', 'R'), ('Jack Black', 'P')]

Conditional aggregation
-----------------------

What if we want to find out how many clients there are for each
``account_type``? We can nest conditional expression within
:ref:`aggregate functions <aggregation-functions>` to achieve this::

    >>> # Create some more Clients first so we can have something to count
    >>> Client.objects.create(
    ...     name='Jean Grey',
    ...     account_type=Client.REGULAR,
    ...     registered_on=date.today())
    >>> Client.objects.create(
    ...     name='James Bond',
    ...     account_type=Client.PLATINUM,
    ...     registered_on=date.today())
    >>> Client.objects.create(
    ...     name='Jane Porter',
    ...     account_type=Client.PLATINUM,
    ...     registered_on=date.today())
    >>> # Get counts for each value of account_type
    >>> from django.db.models import IntegerField, Sum
    >>> Client.objects.aggregate(
    ...     regular=Sum(
    ...         Case(When(account_type=Client.REGULAR, then=1),
    ...              output_field=IntegerField())
    ...     ),
    ...     gold=Sum(
    ...         Case(When(account_type=Client.GOLD, then=1),
    ...              output_field=IntegerField())
    ...     ),
    ...     platinum=Sum(
    ...         Case(When(account_type=Client.PLATINUM, then=1),
    ...              output_field=IntegerField())
    ...     )
    ... )
    {'regular': 2, 'gold': 1, 'platinum': 3}