> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ploegert.gitbook.io/til/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ploegert.gitbook.io/til/programmy/rails/retrieve-an-object-if-it-exists.md).

# Retrieve An Object If It Exists

Rails' Active Support provides the `blank?` and `present?` convenience methods as extensions to many objects. It also extends the Object class by providing the [`presence`](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/Object.html#method-i-presence) method. This method returns the *receiver* if it is not blank, otherwise it returns nil.

Instead of doing

```ruby
User.nickname.present? ? User.nickname : User.firstname
```

I can simply do

```ruby
User.nickname.presence || User.firstname
```