# Question about using DISTINCT in ActiveRecord find method

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-using-distinct-in-activerecord-find-method/52309>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [January 12, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-using-distinct-in-activerecord-find-method/52309 "2006-01-12T18:48:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mkhumri](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@mkhumri](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mkhumri)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-using-distinct-in-activerecord-find-method/52309/1 "2006-01-12T18:48:18Z")

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Hi,

Am relatively new to the RoR world. My question is quite simple.

I have a query like such:

shipmentNumbers = Order.find\_by\_sql([“select distinct s.id from orders  
o, line\_items li, shipment\_lines sl, shipments s where o.number=? and  
o.id = li.order\_id and li.id = sl.line\_item\_id and sl.shipment\_id =  
s.id”, number])

The above query works fine. I wanted to do the same query using the  
query below:

shipmentNumbers = Order.find(:all, :conditions =\> [“number =  
?”, number], :joins =\> “as o join line\_items as li on o.id =  
li.order\_id join shipment\_lines as sl on sl.line\_item\_id = li.id join  
shipments as s on sl.shipment\_id = s.id”)

In the above query I need to add the “distinct s.id” equivalent for  
getting the correct results. Does anybody have an idea as to how I would  
use the DISTINCT clause in the find(…) method?

Thanks,

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkhumri](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@mkhumri](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mkhumri)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-using-distinct-in-activerecord-find-method/52309/2 "2006-01-12T19:44:33Z")

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On 12/01/06, Mufaddal K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Am relatively new to the RoR world. My question is quite simple.

You’ll probably get a faster answer on this from:

[http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)

-austin