# Updating only one column in a table

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 8, 2008, 11:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149 "2008-04-08T11:06:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a88e57/32.png) [@karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikragu)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 11:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149/1 "2008-04-08T11:06:52Z")

</div>

hi all,

```
       im having a table called employees in db.the table hava five

```

columns as

1.username  
2.password  
3.firstname  
4.lastname  
5.mailid.

```
      in this i want to update only password column.how to do

```

it.people knows it please help me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a88e57/32.png) [@karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikragu)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149/2 "2008-04-08T11:20:55Z")

</div>

On 8 Apr 2008, at 10:06, Karthikragunath B. wrote:

> 3.firstname  
> 4.lastname  
> 5.mailid.
> 
> ```
> in this i want to update only password column.how to do
> 
> ```
> 
> it.people knows it please help me.

ActiveRecord does have an update\_attribute method, however (despite  
the name) it saves the whole record. You can probably force it to save  
less if you had loaded the record with a more restrictive :select. Or  
you can drop down a level and use Employee.update\_all

Fred

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a88e57/32.png) [@karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikragu)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149/3 "2008-04-09T16:20:40Z")

</div>

It’s also worth nothing that the next release of Rails (2.1) will do  
just the kind of save you’re asking about. If this is not an  
immediate production demand it may be worth coding with the standard  
methods in the short term and absorb the penalty hit and getting the  
functionality for free when 2.1 is released.

On Apr 8, 5:20 am, Frederick C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a88e57/32.png) [@karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikragu)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 11:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149/4 "2008-04-08T11:25:37Z")

</div>

u can do update like  
Employee.update\_attributes(:password =\> params[:employee][:password])

🙂

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Frederick C.  
[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a88e57/32.png) [@karthikragu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikragu)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/updating-only-one-column-in-a-table/134149/5 "2008-04-09T16:44:36Z")

</div>

Karthikragunath B. wrote:

> hi all,
> 
> ```
> im having a table called employees in db.the table hava five
> 
> ```
> 
> columns as
> 
> 1.username  
> 2.password  
> 3.firstname  
> 4.lastname  
> 5.mailid.
> 
> ```
> in this i want to update only password column.how to do
> 
> ```
> 
> it.people knows it please help me.

If nothing else helps, you can do this,

Employee.connection.execute(“update employees set  
password=‘superseekret’ where id=123”)

(Look up some means to prevent SQL-Injection.)

Stephan