db.models.query.QuerySet.select_for_update()

select_for_update(nowait=False)

Returns a queryset that will lock rows until the end of the transaction, generating a SELECT ... FOR UPDATE SQL statement on supported databases.

For example:

entries = Entry.objects.select_for_update().filter(author=request.user)

All matched entries will be locked until the end of the transaction block, meaning that other transactions will be prevented from changing or acquiring locks on them.

Usually, if another transaction has already acquired a lock on one of the selected rows, the query will block until the lock is released. If this is not the behavior you want, call select_for_update(nowait=True). This will make the call non-blocking. If a conflicting lock is already acquired by another transaction, DatabaseError will be raised when the queryset is evaluated.

Currently, the postgresql, oracle, and mysql database backends support select_for_update(). However, MySQL has no support for the nowait argument. Obviously, users of external third-party backends should check with their backend’s documentation for specifics in those cases.

Passing nowait=True to select_for_update() using database backends that do not support nowait, such as MySQL, will cause a DatabaseError to be raised. This is in order to prevent code unexpectedly blocking.

Evaluating a queryset with select_for_update() in autocommit mode on backends which support SELECT ... FOR UPDATE is a TransactionManagementError error because the rows are not locked in that case. If allowed, this would facilitate data corruption and could easily be caused by calling code that expects to be run in a transaction outside of one.

Using select_for_update() on backends which do not support SELECT ... FOR UPDATE (such as SQLite) will have no effect. SELECT ... FOR UPDATE will not be added to the query, and an error isn’t raised if select_for_update() is used in autocommit mode.