Allow QuerySet.get() and filter() to accept a positional argument for implicit primary key filtering

[Antoine]

I'm creating this ticket to see if there is interest to implement positional arguments in queryset filtering.

Current situation

Currently the only way to use positional arguments to filter can be either:

• Passing a single or multiple Q objects:

  MyClass.objects.filter(Q(key=value))
  MyClass.objects.filter(Q(key=value), Q(other_key=value))
  

• Passing a couple is also working (not sure if this is a happy accident)

  MyClass.objects.filter((key, value))
  

• Combination of both is also proven to work

  MyClass.objects.filter((key, value), Q(other_key=value))
  

Suggestion

My feature suggestion is to leverage the case when a non-Q / non couple object is passed, so it implicitly interpreted as the value for the model's pk.

This could ease/simplify code by omitting pk when this is the only filter used:

MyClass.objects.get(value)
# Translates into: MyClass.objects.get(pk=value)

or

MyClass.objects.filter(value)
# Translates into: MyClass.objects.filter(pk=value)

or

MyClass.objects.filter(Q(value))
# Translates into: MyClass.objects.filter(Q(pk=value))

Do you think it's worth it? It could be leveraged to simplify many situations.

[Tim Graham]

From ​The Zen of Python, "Explicit is better than implicit." Proposals for design decisions like this are better made on the DevelopersMailingList but I doubt there would be consensus to do this.

[Simon Charette]

Hey there, I've personally wished get(pk) was supported in the past but as Tim said this should be brought to the mailing list to try to get a consensus.

[Tim Graham]

​django-developers thread