# Django 6.0.5 documentation

# Many-to-many relationships

To define a many-to-many relationship, use `ManyToManyField`.

In this example, an `Article` can be published in multiple `Publication` objects, and a `Publication` has multiple `Article` objects:

    from django.db import models

    class Publication(models.Model):
        title = models.CharField(max_length=30)

        class Meta:
            ordering = ["title"]

        def __str__(self):
            return self.title

    class Article(models.Model):
        headline = models.CharField(max_length=100)
        publications = models.ManyToManyField(Publication)

        class Meta:
            ordering = ["headline"]

        def __str__(self):
            return self.headline

What follows are examples of operations that can be performed using the Python API facilities.

Create a few `Publication` instances:

    >>> p1 = Publication(title="The Python Journal")
    >>> p1.save()
    >>> p2 = Publication(title="Science News")
    >>> p2.save()
    >>> p3 = Publication(title="Science Weekly")
    >>> p3.save()

Create an `Article`:

    >>> a1 = Article(headline="Django lets you build web apps easily")

You can’t associate it with a `Publication` until it’s been saved:

    >>> a1.publications.add(p1)
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
    ValueError: "<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>" needs to have a value for field "id" before this many-to-many relationship can be used.

Save it!

    >>> a1.save()

Associate the `Article` with a `Publication`:

    >>> a1.publications.add(p1)

Create another `Article`, and set it to appear in its publications:

    >>> a2 = Article(headline="NASA uses Python")
    >>> a2.save()
    >>> a2.publications.add(p1, p2)
    >>> a2.publications.add(p3)

Adding a second time is OK, it will not duplicate the relation:

    >>> a2.publications.add(p3)

Adding an object of the wrong type raises `TypeError`:

    >>> a2.publications.add(a1)
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
    TypeError: 'Publication' instance expected

Create and add a `Publication` to an `Article` in one step using `create()`:

    >>> new_publication = a2.publications.create(title="Highlights for Children")

`Article` objects have access to their related `Publication` objects:

    >>> a1.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> a2.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

`Publication` objects have access to their related `Article` objects:

    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>
    >>> p1.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
    >>> Publication.objects.get(id=4).article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>

Many-to-many relationships can be queried using lookups across relationships:

    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__id=1)
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__pk=1)
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications=1)
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications=p1)
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science")
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").distinct()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>

The `count()` function respects `distinct()` as well:

    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").count()
    2

    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").distinct().count()
    1

    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__in=[1, 2]).distinct()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
    >>> Article.objects.filter(publications__in=[p1, p2]).distinct()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

Reverse m2m queries are supported (i.e., starting at the table that doesn’t have a `ManyToManyField`):

    >>> Publication.objects.filter(id=1)
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> Publication.objects.filter(pk=1)
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith="NASA")
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article__id=1)
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article__pk=1)
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article=1)
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article=a1)
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article__in=[1, 2]).distinct()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> Publication.objects.filter(article__in=[a1, a2]).distinct()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

Excluding a related item works as you would expect, too (although the SQL involved is a little complex):

    >>> Article.objects.exclude(publications=p2)
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>

If we delete a `Publication`, its related `Article` instances won’t be able to access it:

    >>> p1.delete()
    >>> Publication.objects.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>]>
    >>> a1 = Article.objects.get(pk=1)
    >>> a1.publications.all()
    <QuerySet []>

If we delete an `Article`, its related `Publication` instances won’t be able to access it:

    >>> a2.delete()
    >>> Article.objects.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet []>

Adding via the ‘other’ end of an m2m:

    >>> a4 = Article(headline="NASA finds intelligent life on Earth")
    >>> a4.save()
    >>> p2.article_set.add(a4)
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>]>
    >>> a4.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>

Adding via the other end using keywords:

    >>> new_article = p2.article_set.create(headline="Oxygen-free diet works wonders")
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
    >>> a5 = p2.article_set.all()[1]
    >>> a5.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>

Removing `Publication` from an `Article`:

    >>> a4.publications.remove(p2)
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
    >>> a4.publications.all()
    <QuerySet []>

And from the other end:

    >>> p2.article_set.remove(a5)
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet []>
    >>> a5.publications.all()
    <QuerySet []>

Relation sets can be set:

    >>> a4.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>
    >>> a4.publications.set([p3])
    >>> a4.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Science Weekly>]>

Relation sets can be cleared:

    >>> p2.article_set.clear()
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet []>

And you can clear from the other end:

    >>> p2.article_set.add(a4, a5)
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
    >>> a4.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>]>
    >>> a4.publications.clear()
    >>> a4.publications.all()
    <QuerySet []>
    >>> p2.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>

Recreate the `Article` and `Publication` we have deleted:

    >>> p1 = Publication(title="The Python Journal")
    >>> p1.save()
    >>> a2 = Article(headline="NASA uses Python")
    >>> a2.save()
    >>> a2.publications.add(p1, p2, p3)

Bulk delete some `Publication` instances, and the references to deleted publications will no longer be included in the related entries:

    >>> Publication.objects.filter(title__startswith="Science").delete()
    >>> Publication.objects.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>
    >>> Article.objects.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: NASA uses Python>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
    >>> a2.publications.all()
    <QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

Bulk delete some articles - references to deleted objects should go:

    >>> q = Article.objects.filter(headline__startswith="Django")
    >>> print(q)
    <QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>
    >>> q.delete()

After the `delete()`, the `QuerySet` cache needs to be cleared, and the referenced objects should be gone:

    >>> print(q)
    <QuerySet []>
    >>> p1.article_set.all()
    <QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>