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I am doing a coding project in rails. I have a user model, and I want to add a "spouse_id" to it (which would reference other users). Can a model reference itself in a foreign key?

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  • What is the data store, for those of us not familiar with Rails? In some data stores, joins of any kind are problematic, and Rails is not the issue.
    – Robert Harvey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 14:39
  • I'm not sure what you mean, but I am storing the data in a database (sqlite3 in dev; postgres in prod)
    – Jeff
    Jul 24, 2015 at 14:40
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    Then the answer is "of course." It's called a self-join.
    – Robert Harvey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 14:40
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    Thanks @RobertHarvey, I'm still new at this, never heard of a self-join. Now that I know what to look for: railscasts.com/episodes/163-self-referential-association
    – Jeff
    Jul 24, 2015 at 14:41
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    Also called a Self-referencing table.
    – Robert Harvey
    Jul 24, 2015 at 14:42

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Thanks to the comments:

Then the answer is "of course." It's called a self-join.

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For those who are still looking for the how-to in Rails.

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