要定义多对多关系，请使用 ​ManyToManyField​。

在这个例子中，一个​Article​可以在多个 ​Publication ​对象中发布，而一个 ​Publication ​有多个 ​Article ​对象：

from django.db import models

class Publication(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=30)

    class Meta:
        ordering = ['title']

    def __str__(self):
        return self.title

class Article(models.Model):
    headline = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    publications = models.ManyToManyField(Publication)

    class Meta:
        ordering = ['headline']

    def __str__(self):
        return self.headline

以下是可以使用 Python API 工具执行的操作示例。

创建一些 ​Publications​:

>>> p1 = Publication(title='The Python Journal')
>>> p1.save()
>>> p2 = Publication(title='Science News')
>>> p2.save()
>>> p3 = Publication(title='Science Weekly')
>>> p3.save()

创建一个​Article​:

>>> a1 = Article(headline='Django lets you build web apps easily')

在保存之前，您不能将其与 ​Publications​关联：

>>> a1.publications.add(p1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValueError: "<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>" needs to have a value for field "id" before this many-to-many relationship can be used.

然后保存它

>>> a1.save()

用一个 ​Publication​来关联 ​Article​:

>>> a1.publications.add(p1)

创建另一个​Article​, 并且设置它的​Publications​

>>> a2 = Article(headline='NASA uses Python')
>>> a2.save()
>>> a2.publications.add(p1, p2)
>>> a2.publications.add(p3)

二次添加是可以的，但它不会重复这一关系。

>>> a2.publications.add(p3)

添加错误类型的对象会引发：exc：TypeError

>>> a2.publications.add(a1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
TypeError: 'Publication' instance expected

使用 create() 一步创建 ​Publications​并将其添加到 ​Article​：

>>> new_publication = a2.publications.create(title='Highlights for Children')

​Article ​对象可以访问与它们相关的 ​Publication ​对象：

>>> a1.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> a2.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

​Publication ​对象可以访问与它们相关的 ​Article ​对象：

>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> p1.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Publication.objects.get(id=4).article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>

可通过 跨关联查询 查询多对多关联:

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__id=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications=p1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science")
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>

​count()​ 函数也可以配合 ​distinct()​ 

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").count()
2

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").distinct().count()
1

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__in=[1,2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__in=[p1,p2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

支持反向m2m查询（比如，从没有 ​ManyToManyField ​的表开始）：

>>> Publication.objects.filter(id=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith="NASA")
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__id=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article=a1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__in=[1,2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__in=[a1,a2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

排除相关条目的工作方式正如你所期望的那样（尽管相关 SQL 有点复杂）：

>>> Article.objects.exclude(publications=p2)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>

如果我们删除 ​Publication​， 它的 ​Articles ​无法访问它：

>>> p1.delete()
>>> Publication.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>]>
>>> a1 = Article.objects.get(pk=1)
>>> a1.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>

如果我们删除了 ​Article​，它的 ​Publications ​也无法访问它：

>>> a2.delete()
>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet []>

通过m2m的另一端添加：

>>> a4 = Article(headline='NASA finds intelligent life on Earth')
>>> a4.save()
>>> p2.article_set.add(a4)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>]>
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>

使用关键字通过另一端添加：

>>> new_article = p2.article_set.create(headline='Oxygen-free diet works wonders')
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a5 = p2.article_set.all()[1]
>>> a5.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>

从 ​Article ​中移除 ​Publication​：

>>> a4.publications.remove(p2)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>

从另一端移除：

>>> p2.article_set.remove(a5)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet []>
>>> a5.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>

可以设置关系：

>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>
>>> a4.publications.set([p3])
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science Weekly>]>

关系可以被清除：

>>> p2.article_set.clear()
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet []>

可以从另一端清除：

>>> p2.article_set.add(a4, a5)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>]>
>>> a4.publications.clear()
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>

重新创建我们刚删除的 ​Article ​和 ​Publication ​：

>>> p1 = Publication(title='The Python Journal')
>>> p1.save()
>>> a2 = Article(headline='NASA uses Python')
>>> a2.save()
>>> a2.publications.add(p1, p2, p3)

批量删除一些​publications ​- 对已删除​publications​的引用应该去：

>>> Publication.objects.filter(title__startswith='Science').delete()
>>> Publication.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: NASA uses Python>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a2.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

批量删除​Article​：

>>> q = Article.objects.filter(headline__startswith='Django')
>>> print(q)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>
>>> q.delete()

在 ​delete()​ 之后，需要清除 ​QuerySet ​缓存，并且引用的对象应该没有了：

>>> print(q)
<QuerySet []>
>>> p1.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>