# Rails 2.3.2 way to do "Item.find( :all, :select =\> 'DISTINCT fieldname' )"

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-2-3-2-way-to-do-item-find-all-select-distinct-fieldname/173315>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 6, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-2-3-2-way-to-do-item-find-all-select-distinct-fieldname/173315 "2009-08-06T20:28:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![oldbug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@oldbug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/oldbug)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-2-3-2-way-to-do-item-find-all-select-distinct-fieldname/173315/1 "2009-08-06T20:28:29Z")

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Is there a more modern way to do something like:

distinct\_items = Item.find( :all, :select =\> ‘DISTINCT fieldname’ )

I have found a number of circa 2007 web pages that all recommend the  
use of :select, and I can’t find a :distinct option for #find, but I  
figured I’d ask.

–wpd