Safe ActiveRecord like query

Question

I'm trying to write LIKE query.

I read that pure string quires aren't safe, however I couldn't find any documentation that explain how to write safe LIKE Hash Query.

Is it possible? Should I manually defend against SQL Injection?

Answer 1

You can do

MyModel.where(["title LIKE ?", "%#{params[:query]}%"])

Answer 2

For PostgreSQL it will be

Foo.where("bar ILIKE ?", "%#{query}%") 

Answer 3

To ensure that your query string gets properly sanitized, use the array or the hash query syntax to describe your conditions:

Foo.where("bar LIKE ?", "%#{query}%")

or:

Foo.where("bar LIKE :query", query: "%#{query}%")

If it is possible that the query might include the % character then you need to sanitize query with sanitize_sql_like first:

Foo.where("bar LIKE ?", "%#{sanitize_sql_like(query)}%")
Foo.where("bar LIKE :query", query: "%#{sanitize_sql_like(query)}%")

Answer 4

Using Arel you can perform this safe and portable query:

title = Model.arel_table[:title]
Model.where(title.matches("%#{query}%"))