=====================
Constraints reference
=====================

.. module:: django.db.models.constraints

.. currentmodule:: django.db.models

.. versionadded:: 2.2

The classes defined in this module create database constraints. They are added
in the model :attr:`Meta.constraints <django.db.models.Options.constraints>`
option.

.. admonition:: Referencing built-in constraints

    Constraints are defined in ``django.db.models.constraints``, but for
    convenience they're imported into :mod:`django.db.models`. The standard
    convention is to use ``from django.db import models`` and refer to the
    constraints as ``models.<Foo>Constraint``.

.. admonition:: Constraints in abstract base classes

    You must always specify a unique name for the constraint. As such, you
    cannot normally specify a constraint on an abstract base class, since the
    :attr:`Meta.constraints <django.db.models.Options.constraints>` option is
    inherited by subclasses, with exactly the same values for the attributes
    (including ``name``) each time. Instead, specify the ``constraints`` option
    on subclasses directly, providing a unique name for each constraint.

.. admonition:: Validation of Constraints

    In general constraints are **not** checked during ``full_clean()``, and do
    not raise ``ValidationError``\s. Rather you'll get a database integrity
    error on ``save()``. ``UniqueConstraint``\s are different in this regard,
    in that they leverage the existing ``validate_unique()`` logic, and thus
    enable two-stage validation. In addition to ``IntegrityError`` on
    ``save()``, ``ValidationError`` is also raised during model validation when
    the ``UniqueConstraint`` is violated.

``CheckConstraint``
===================

.. class:: CheckConstraint(*, check, name)

    Creates a check constraint in the database.

``check``
---------

.. attribute:: CheckConstraint.check

A :class:`Q` object that specifies the check you want the constraint to
enforce.

For example, ``CheckConstraint(check=Q(age__gte=18), name='age_gte_18')``
ensures the age field is never less than 18.

``name``
--------

.. attribute:: CheckConstraint.name

The name of the constraint.

``UniqueConstraint``
====================

.. class:: UniqueConstraint(*, fields, name, condition=None)

    Creates a unique constraint in the database.

``fields``
----------

.. attribute:: UniqueConstraint.fields

A list of field names that specifies the unique set of columns you want the
constraint to enforce.

For example, ``UniqueConstraint(fields=['room', 'date'],
name='unique_booking')`` ensures each room can only be booked once for each
date.

``name``
--------

.. attribute:: UniqueConstraint.name

The name of the constraint.

``condition``
-------------

.. attribute:: UniqueConstraint.condition

A :class:`Q` object that specifies the condition you want the constraint to
enforce.

For example::

    UniqueConstraint(fields=['user'], condition=Q(status='DRAFT'), name='unique_draft_user')

ensures that each user only has one draft.

These conditions have the same database restrictions as
:attr:`Index.condition`.