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Django values_list vs values

In Django, what's the difference between the following two:

Article.objects.values_list('comment_id', flat=True).distinct()

VS

Article.objects.values('comment_id').distinct()

My goal is to get a list of unique comment ids under each Article. I've read the documentation (and in fact have used both approaches). The results overtly seem similar.

With values_list you can do if self.id in Article.objects.values_list('comment_id', flat=True): while using values you need to access the dictionary
@dnaranjo - You could but why not just do Article.objects.filter(comment_id=self.id).exists()?
That's an answer for a different question

A
Alasdair

The values() method returns a QuerySet containing dictionaries:

<QuerySet [{'comment_id': 1}, {'comment_id': 2}]>

The values_list() method returns a QuerySet containing tuples:

<QuerySet [(1,), (2,)]>

If you are using values_list() with a single field, you can use flat=True to return a QuerySet of single values instead of 1-tuples:

<QuerySet [1, 2]>

Oh and no difference among the two vis-a-vis how distinct() is used huh?
No, I don't think distinct() works any differently. The important thing is which data structure that you want to work with.
The values() returns a QuerySet and not a list. Although the object returned by values() looks like a list, it doesn't behave like one in some cases. For example, it won't be json serializable unless we convert it into a `list'
@AbhijitGhate good point, I've updated the answer to make that clearer.
You can easily convert the return from values_list to a true Python list by just using the list function: list(Article.objects.values_list('comment_id', flat=True).distinct())
F
Flimm

values()

Returns a QuerySet that returns dictionaries, rather than model instances, when used as an iterable.

values_list()

Returns a QuerySet that returns list of tuples, rather than model instances, when used as an iterable.

distinct()

distinct are used to eliminate the duplicate elements.

Example:

>>> list(Article.objects.values_list('id', flat=True)) # flat=True will remove the tuples and return the list   
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

>>> list(Article.objects.values('id'))
[{'id':1}, {'id':2}, {'id':3}, {'id':4}, {'id':5}, {'id':6}]

So it's a list of dictionaries that's returned in case of values
Just to clarify: distinct() eliminates the duplicate elements from query results, not from database.
g
glennsl

You can get the different values with:

set(Article.objects.values_list('comment_id', flat=True))

This will be way slower than using distinct() to eliminate duplicates at database level.
Also, using set() will force a query on the whole table, when a QuerySet (returned by distinct()) will stream data only when needed.
K
Kai - Kazuya Ito

"values()" returns a QuerySet of dictionaries.

For example:

print(User.objects.all().values()) # Return all fields
# <QuerySet [{'id': 1, 'name': 'John'}, {'id': 2, 'name': 'Tom'}]>

print(User.objects.all().values("name")) # Return "name" field
# <QuerySet [{'name': 'John'}, {'name': 'Tom'}]>

"values_list()" returns a QuerySet of tuples.

For example:

print(User.objects.all().values_list()) # Return all fields
# <QuerySet [(1, 'John'), (2, 'Tom')]>

print(User.objects.all().values_list("name")) # Return "name" field
# <QuerySet [('John',), ('Tom',)]>

"values_list()" with "flat=True" returns a QuerySet of values. *No or One field with "flat=True" is allowed and one field must be the 1st argument with "flat=True" which must be the 2nd argument.

For example:

print(User.objects.all().values_list(flat=True)) # Return "id" field
# <QuerySet [1, 2]>

print(User.objects.all().values_list("name", flat=True)) # Return "name" field
# <QuerySet ['John', 'Tom']>

print(User.objects.all().values_list(flat=True, "name")) # Error

print(User.objects.all().values_list("id", "name", flat=True)) # Error

r
run_the_race

The best place to understand the difference is at the official documentation on values / values_list. It has many useful examples and explains it very clearly. The django docs are very user freindly.

Here's a short snippet to keep SO reviewers happy:

values

Returns a QuerySet that returns dictionaries, rather than model instances, when used as an iterable.

And read the section which follows it:

value_list

This is similar to values() except that instead of returning dictionaries, it returns tuples when iterated over.