Search and filter options in Django - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to filter books by title containing a search term.

Django

books = Book.objects.filter(title__[1]=search_term)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Acontains

Bexact

Cstartswith

Dendswith

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'exact' instead of 'contains' causes no partial matches.

The contains lookup filters records where the field contains the given substring.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to filter books published after a given year.

Django

books = Book.objects.filter(publish_year__[1]=year)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Alt

Bgt

Clte

Dgte

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'gte' includes the year itself, which may not be desired.

The gt lookup means 'greater than', so it filters books published after the given year.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in filtering books with author name case-insensitive match.

Django

books = Book.objects.filter(author__[1]=author_name)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aiexact

Bcontains

Cexact

Dicontains

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'exact' causes case-sensitive match, missing some results.

The iexact lookup matches the exact string ignoring case, which is needed here.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to filter books with title containing a term and published before a year.

Django

books = Book.objects.filter(title__[1]=term, publish_year__[2]=year)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aicontains

Bcontains

Clt

Dgt

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'contains' misses case-insensitive matches.

Using 'gt' filters wrong years.

Use icontains for case-insensitive title search and lt for years less than the given year.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to filter books with author name case-insensitive, title containing term, and published after year.

Django

books = Book.objects.filter(author__[1]=author_name, title__[2]=term, publish_year__[3]=year)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aiexact

Bicontains

Cgt

Dcontains

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'exact' causes case-sensitive author match.

Using 'contains' misses case-insensitive title matches.

Using 'gte' includes the year itself.

Use iexact for author name case-insensitive exact match, icontains for title substring ignoring case, and gt for published after the year.

Practice

1. What does the Django ORM method filter() do when used with icontains in a query?

easy

A. It returns records where the specified field contains the given substring, case-insensitive.

B. It deletes records that contain the given substring in the specified field.

C. It updates records to include the given substring in the specified field.

D. It sorts records alphabetically based on the specified field.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand filter() usage

   The filter() method in Django ORM is used to select records that match certain conditions.

2. Step 2: Understand icontains lookup

   icontains checks if a field contains a substring, ignoring case differences.

3. Final Answer:

   It returns records where the specified field contains the given substring, case-insensitive. -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   filter() + icontains = case-insensitive substring search [OK]

Hint: Remember: filter() narrows results; icontains ignores case [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing filter() with delete()
• Thinking icontains is case-sensitive
• Assuming filter() modifies data
• Mixing filter() with sorting methods

2. Which of the following is the correct syntax to filter a Django model Book by title containing the word 'django' ignoring case?

easy

A. Book.objects.get(title__icontains='django')

B. Book.objects.filter(title.contains='django')

C. Book.objects.filter(title__contains='django')

D. Book.objects.filter(title__icontains='django')

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify correct field lookup syntax

   Django uses double underscores to separate field and lookup, so title__icontains is correct.

2. Step 2: Choose correct method for filtering multiple records

   filter() returns a queryset; get() returns a single object and may error if multiple matches.

3. Final Answer:

   Book.objects.filter(title__icontains='django') -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   filter() + __icontains syntax = Book.objects.filter(title__icontains='django') [OK]

Hint: Use double underscores for lookups and filter() for multiple results [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using single underscore instead of double
• Using get() when multiple results expected
• Using contains instead of icontains for case-insensitive
• Using incorrect method names like contains

3. Given the following Django view code snippet, what will books contain if the URL query string is ?search=python?

def book_list(request):
    query = request.GET.get('search', '')
    books = Book.objects.filter(title__icontains=query)
    return render(request, 'books.html', {'books': books})

medium

A. All Book objects with titles containing 'python' ignoring case.

B. All Book objects with titles exactly equal to 'python'.

C. An empty queryset because 'search' is not a valid field.

D. All Book objects regardless of title.

Solution

1. Step 1: Extract query parameter from request

   The code gets the 'search' parameter from the URL query string, which is 'python'.

2. Step 2: Apply filter with icontains lookup

   The filter uses title__icontains='python', so it returns books with titles containing 'python' ignoring case.

3. Final Answer:

   All Book objects with titles containing 'python' ignoring case. -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   GET param + icontains filter = All Book objects with titles containing 'python' ignoring case. [OK]

Hint: GET params filter queryset with icontains for partial match [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking filter matches exact text only
• Assuming empty query returns all results
• Confusing GET params with POST data
• Believing filter ignores the query parameter

4. Identify the error in this Django view code for filtering Product objects by a search term from the URL:

def product_search(request):
    term = request.GET['search']
    results = Product.objects.filter(name_icontains=term)
    return render(request, 'search.html', {'results': results})

medium

A. Using request.GET['search'] causes a syntax error.

B. The field lookup should use double underscores: name__icontains.

C. The filter method should be get() instead of filter().

D. The render function is missing the request parameter.

Solution

1. Step 1: Check field lookup syntax in filter()

   The code uses name_icontains, but Django requires double underscores between field and lookup: name__icontains.

2. Step 2: Verify other parts of the code

   Using request.GET['search'] is valid but may raise KeyError if missing; render() usage is correct with request parameter.

3. Final Answer:

   The field lookup should use double underscores: name__icontains. -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Field lookup syntax requires double underscores [OK]

Hint: Use double underscores for lookups like __icontains [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using single underscore in field lookups
• Confusing filter() with get()
• Forgetting to pass request to render()
• Assuming request.GET[] never raises errors

5. You want to build a Django view that filters Article objects by a search term in the title and also filters by a minimum number of views provided by the user. Which of the following code snippets correctly applies both filters using values from request.GET?

hard

A. query = request.GET['q']
min_views = request.GET['min_views']
articles = Article.objects.filter(title__icontains=query).filter(views__lte=min_views)

B. query = request.GET.get('q')
min_views = request.GET.get('min_views')
articles = Article.objects.filter(title__contains=query, views__gt=min_views)

C. query = request.GET.get('q', '')
min_views = int(request.GET.get('min_views', 0))
articles = Article.objects.filter(title__icontains=query, views__gte=min_views)

D. query = request.GET.get('q', '')
min_views = int(request.GET.get('min_views', 0))
articles = Article.objects.filter(title__icontains=query).exclude(views__lte=min_views)

Solution

1. Step 1: Extract and convert GET parameters safely

   Using get() with default values avoids errors. Converting min_views to int is necessary for numeric comparison.

2. Step 2: Apply combined filters correctly

   Using filter() with multiple conditions joined by commas applies AND logic. title__icontains=query and views__gte=min_views correctly filter by title substring and minimum views.

3. Final Answer:

   query = request.GET.get('q', '') min_views = int(request.GET.get('min_views', 0)) articles = Article.objects.filter(title__icontains=query, views__gte=min_views) -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Safe GET + combined filter with AND = query = request.GET.get('q', '') min_views = int(request.GET.get('min_views', 0)) articles = Article.objects.filter(title__icontains=query, views__gte=min_views) [OK]

Hint: Use filter() with multiple conditions and convert GET values properly [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Not converting min_views to int before filtering
• Using filter() then filter() with conflicting conditions
• Using contains instead of icontains for case-insensitive search
• Using exclude() incorrectly to simulate greater than or equal