# how to SQL-escape user input/do SQL-LIKE thru AR?

**URL:** <https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/how-to-sql-escape-user-input-do-sql-like-thru-ar/12645>\
**Category:** rubyonrails-talk\
**Created:** [May 8, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/how-to-sql-escape-user-input-do-sql-like-thru-ar/12645 "2007-05-08T00:42:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sbeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@sbeam](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/sbeam)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/how-to-sql-escape-user-input-do-sql-like-thru-ar/12645/1 "2007-05-08T00:42:48Z")

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AR insists on escaping user input when using the find() method, which is commendable. But what if you need the equivalent of

&nbsp;&nbsp;SELECT \* FROM user WHERE email LIKE '%#{params[:terms]}%'

??

putting &nbsp;&nbsp;:conditions =\> ["email LIKE '%?%'", params[:terms]]

will asplode for obvious reasons.

Also, what if I have an array coming from the form and what to put the values into a IN() clause, i.e

&nbsp;&nbsp;...WHERE dept\_id IN (1,2,3,4,5)

doing &nbsp;&nbsp;:conditions =\> ["dept\_id IN (?)", params[:email].join(',')]

will not do anything useful.

So in short, I need access to the function that allows me to directly escape user input myself. AWDWROR and G$$gle were no help finding it.

thanks Sam

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**Author:** ![Tiago\_Macedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Tiago\_Macedo](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Tiago_Macedo)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2007, 9:52am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/how-to-sql-escape-user-input-do-sql-like-thru-ar/12645/2 "2007-05-08T09:52:43Z")

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sbeam wrote:

> AR insists on escaping user input when using the find() method, which is commendable. But what if you need the equivalent of
> 
> &nbsp;&nbsp;SELECT \* FROM user WHERE email LIKE '%#{params[:terms]}%'
> 
> ??
> 
> putting &nbsp;&nbsp;:conditions =\> ["email LIKE '%?%'", params[:terms]]
> 
> will asplode for obvious reasons. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Taken from AWDWROR:

Using Like Clauses You might be tempted to do something like the following to use parameterized like clauses in conditions: # Doesn't work User.find(:all, :conditions =\> ["name like '?%'" , params[:name]]) Rails doesn’t parse the SQL inside a condition and so doesn’t know that the name is being substituted into a string. As a result, it will go ahead and add extra quotes around the value of the name parameter. The correct way to do this is to construct the full parameter to the like clause and pass that parameter into the condition. # Works User.find(:all, :conditions =\> ["name like ?" , params[:name]+"%" ])

> Also, what if I have an array coming from the form and what to put the values into a IN() clause, i.e
> 
> &nbsp;&nbsp;...WHERE dept\_id IN (1,2,3,4,5)
> 
> doing &nbsp;&nbsp;:conditions =\> ["dept\_id IN (?)", params[:email].join(',')]
> 
> will not do anything useful. &nbsp;&nbsp;

:conditions =\> ["dept\_id IN (?)", params[:email]]

AR will automatically join your array (it must be an array!).

Tiago Macedo