The Django ORM

The Django ORM

The Object-Relational Mapper (ORM) lets you interact with your database using Python instead of SQL. Each model has a objects manager that provides query methods.

The Django Shell

python manage.py shell

The shell gives you a Python REPL with Django loaded, perfect for testing queries.

Creating Records

from articles.models import Article

# Method 1: Create and save in two steps
article = Article(title='My First Post', slug='my-first-post', body='Hello world!')
article.save()

# Method 2: Create and save in one step
article = Article.objects.create(
    title='Second Post',
    slug='second-post',
    body='Another article.'
)

Reading Records

# Get all articles
articles = Article.objects.all()

# Get a single article
article = Article.objects.get(id=1)
article = Article.objects.get(slug='my-first-post')

# Filter articles
recent = Article.objects.filter(date__year=2025)
long_titles = Article.objects.filter(title__contains='Django')

# Order articles
ordered = Article.objects.all().order_by('-date')  # Newest first
ordered = Article.objects.all().order_by('title')   # A to Z

Common Query Methods

Method	Returns	Use Case
all()	QuerySet of all records	Listing all items
get()	Single object (or error)	Finding one specific item
filter()	QuerySet of matching records	Searching with conditions
exclude()	QuerySet excluding matches	Inverse filtering
order_by()	Ordered QuerySet	Sorting results
first()	First record or None	Getting the first match
count()	Integer	Counting records

Updating and Deleting

# Update
article = Article.objects.get(id=1)
article.title = 'Updated Title'
article.save()

# Delete
article = Article.objects.get(id=1)
article.delete()

Using in Views

# articles/views.py
from .models import Article

def article_list(request):
    articles = Article.objects.all().order_by('-date')
    return render(request, 'articles/article_list.html', {
        'articles': articles
    })

Key Takeaways

• The ORM lets you query the database with Python — no SQL needed
• Model.objects is the entry point for all queries
• all(), get(), filter(), and order_by() are the most common methods
• Pass QuerySets to templates through the context dictionary