rails

How do you update Rails model attributes without saving?

Use the assign_attributes method or attribute= method.

Ryan Strickler

Building digital products and sharing what I learn along the way. I 💙 Rails 🚂, APIs ⚙️, dogs 🐶, and mountains 🏔️.

More posts by Ryan Strickler.

Ryan Strickler

18 Sep 2019 • 1 min read

For more than one attribute, use the assign_attributes method.

irb> movie = Movies.new
=> #<Movie id: nil, title: nil, year: nil, director: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil>

irb> movie.assign_attributes(title: 'The Shawshank Redemption', year: 1994)
=> nil

irb> movie
=> #<Movie id: nil, title: "The Shawshank Redemption", year: 1994, director: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil>

For a single attribute, use the attribute= method.

irb> movie.director = 'Frank Darabont'
=> "Frank Darabont"

irb> movie
=> #<Movie id: nil, title: "The Shawshank Redemption", year: 2004, director: "Frank Darabont", created_at: nil, updated_at: nil>