exists()

Signature

exists() — returns boolean

Available in: model Category: Miscellaneous Functions

Description

Checks if a record exists in the table. You can pass in either a primary key value to the key argument or a string to the where argument. If you don’t pass in either of those, it will simply check if any record exists in the table.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
key	any	no	—	Primary key value(s) of the record. Separate with comma if passing in multiple primary key values. Accepts a string, list, or a numeric value.
where	string	no	—	Maps to the WHERE clause of the query (or HAVING when necessary). The following operators are supported: =, !=, <>, <, <=, >, >=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, IN, NOT IN, IS NULL, IS NOT NULL, AND, and OR (note that the key words need to be written in upper case). You can also use parentheses to group statements. Nested queries not allowed. You do not need to specify the table name(s); Wheels will do that for you.
reload	boolean	no	false	Set to true to force Wheels to query the database even though an identical query for this model may have been run in the same request. (The default in Wheels is to get the second query from the model’s request-level cache.)
parameterize	any	no	true	Set to true to use cfqueryparam on all columns, or pass in a list of property names to use cfqueryparam on those only.
includeSoftDeletes	boolean	no	—	Set to true to include soft-deleted records in the queries that this method runs.

Examples

// 1. Check if any record exists in the table
anyUsers = model("User").exists();

// 2. Check if a record with a specific primary key exists
result = model("User").exists(key=params.key);

// 3. Check if a record matching a WHERE condition exists
joeExists = model("User").exists(where="firstName = 'Joe'");

// 4. Use the result in a conditional
if (model("User").exists(key=params.userId)) {
	// record was found, proceed
}

// 5. Include soft-deleted records in the check
deletedExists = model("User").exists(where="email='old@example.com'", includeSoftDeletes=true);

// 6. If you have a `belongsTo` association from `Comment` to `Post`, you can do a scoped call. (The `hasPost` method below calls `model("Post").exists(comment.postId)` internally.)
comment = model("Comment").findByKey(params.commentId);
commentHasAPost = comment.hasPost();

// 7. If you have a `hasOne` association from `User` to `Profile`, you can do a scoped call. (The `hasProfile` method below calls `model("Profile").exists(where="userId=#user.id#")` internally.)
user = model("User").findByKey(params.userId);
userHasProfile = user.hasProfile();

// 8. If you have a `hasMany` association from `Post` to `Comment`, you can do a scoped call. (The `hasComments` method below calls `model("Comment").exists(where="postId=#post.id#")` internally.)
post = model("Post").findByKey(params.postId);
postHasComments = post.hasComments();