# Rails - references? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 14, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267 "2010-08-14T14:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/1 "2010-08-14T14:22:49Z")
Following this tutorial: > **[Getting Started with Rails — Ruby on Rails Guides](https://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started.html)** > > Getting Started with RailsThis guide covers getting up and running with Ruby on Rails.After reading this guide, you will know: How to install Rails, create a new Rails application, and connect your application to a database. The general layout of a... Under; 7.1 Generating a Model It mentions the following for creating a “Comment” model: $ rails generate model Comment commenter:string body:text post:references In post:references What is “references”? Is it a data type? And, what does it represent? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/2 "2010-08-14T14:26:25Z")
I saw down few lines in the tutorial the following: The t.references line sets up a foreign key column for the association between the two models. Go ahead and run the migration: So, is “references” simply a “Foreign key”? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/3 "2010-08-14T14:38:35Z")
On 14 August 2010 13:26, Abder-Rahman A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I saw down few lines in the tutorial the following: > > The t.references line sets up a foreign key column for the association > between the two models. Go ahead and run the migration: So did you go ahead and run it? What did it generate in the db for this field? Colin ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/4 "2010-08-14T16:47:57Z")
On 14 August 2010 13:48, Abder-Rahman A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > Colin > > I found that there is a “post\_id” column in the “comments” table. There you are then, presumably in the example Comment belongs\_to Post, so this is generating the foreign key field for the post. Question answered. Colin ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/5 "2010-08-14T16:59:58Z")
clanlaw wrote: > On 14 August 2010 13:48, Abder-Rahman A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > Colin > > > > I found that there is a “post\_id” column in the “comments” table. > > There you are then, presumably in the example Comment belongs\_to Post, > so this is generating the foreign key field for the post. Question > answered. > > Colin What do you mean by run it? ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/6 "2010-08-14T14:48:08Z")
Colin L. wrote: > On 14 August 2010 13:26, Abder-Rahman A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > I saw down few lines in the tutorial the following: > > > > The t.references line sets up a foreign key column for the association > > between the two models. Go ahead and run the migration: > > So did you go ahead and run it? What did it generate in the db for this > field? > > Colin I found that there is a “post\_id” column in the “comments” table. ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/7 "2010-08-14T17:07:17Z")
On 14 August 2010 15:59, Abder-Rahman A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > Colin > > What do you mean by run it? What do you mean, “what do you mean by run it?”? I don’t see any reference to running anything in my post. Colin ---
**Author:** ![swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@swengineer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/swengineer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rails-references/193267/8 "2010-08-14T17:26:44Z")
clanlaw wrote: > On 14 August 2010 15:59, Abder-Rahman A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > Colin > > > > What do you mean by run it? > > What do you mean, “what do you mean by run it?”? I don’t see any > reference to running anything in my post. > > Colin This is when you said: So did you go ahead and “run it”? What did it generate in the db for this field? But, anyway, I got the idea now. Thanks.