# Getting database config info **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 1, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-database-config-info/99734 "2006-02-01T15:56:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robbie_Carlton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-database-config-info/99734/1 "2006-02-01T15:56:44Z")
Hi folks. I have a very small problem which is probably very simple. But I’ve scoured the api and the rails book with no luck. I’m trying to get information about the database definition out of active record. When I go into console and say ActiveRecord::Base.connection I get a MysqlAdapter object, with an instance variable called @config that’s a hash containing all the information I need. However I can’t get at the config variable. I can think of two solutions, neither of which is entirely satisfactory. Either extend the definition of MysqlAdapter to include an accessor for database name, but I’m loathe to do this as it’s hacky and will cause problems with switching to different database types and updates to rails. The other is to parse the config file myself, but again this is clearly not clever as it’s duplication. Thanks in advance Robbie ---
**Author:** ![Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robbie_Carlton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-database-config-info/99734/2 "2006-02-01T16:11:27Z")
I’ve asked a similar question, Peter has helped me as follow. Hope this help you too * * * From: Peter D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Mailed-By: [lists.rubyonrails.org](http://lists.rubyonrails.org) Date: Dec 22, 2005 10:50 PM Subject: Re: [Rails] [NEWB] How to access database.yml parameters in a controller On 12/23/05, Mathieu C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Are the active database.yaml attributes for the current environment > (dev, prod, test) available inside a controler ? ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[RAILS\_ENV.to\_sym][‘database’] ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[RAILS\_ENV.to\_sym][‘host’] ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[RAILS\_ENV.to\_sym][‘adapter’] ---
**Author:** ![Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robbie_Carlton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-database-config-info/99734/3 "2006-02-01T16:23:30Z")
thank you very much. I couldn’t get this to work in console ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[RAILS\_ENV.to\_sym][‘database’] I didn’t try it in a controller, but following your lead I did get this to work, which does exactly what I need ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[‘development’][‘database’] cheers ---
**Author:** ![Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Robbie\_Carlton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Robbie_Carlton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-database-config-info/99734/4 "2006-02-02T20:47:50Z")
I had some trouble finding these answers, because I couldn’t find out a decent set of keywords to search for. After finding the answer in this thread, I added it to [1]. If you will, please take a look and modify it in any way you see fit. Thanks for providing the answer to my question, - Rowan [1] [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/database.yml](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/database.yml)