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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. 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. 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. Jul 24, 2015 at 14:42

2 Answers 2

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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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