ankane/active_median

Median and percentile for Active Record, Mongoid, arrays, and hashes

474

stars

235

commits

Ruby

primary language

Aug 26, 2026

updated

README

ActiveMedian

Median and percentile for Active Record, Mongoid, arrays, and hashes

Supports:

  • PostgreSQL
  • SQLite
  • MariaDB
  • MySQL (with an extension)
  • SQL Server
  • MongoDB

:fire: Uses native functions for blazing performance

Build Status

Getting Started

Add this line to your application’s Gemfile:

gem "active_median"

For MySQL, also follow these instructions.

Models

Median

Item.median(:price)

Percentile

Request.percentile(:response_time, 0.95)

Works with grouping, too

Order.group(:store_id).median(:total)

Arrays and Hashes

Median

[1, 2, 3].median

Percentile

[1, 2, 3].percentile(0.95)

You can also pass a block

{a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}.median { |k, v| v }

Additional Instructions

MySQL

MySQL requires the PERCENTILE_CONT function from udf_infusion. To install it, do:

git clone https://github.com/infusion/udf_infusion.git
cd udf_infusion
./configure --enable-functions="percentile_cont"
make
sudo make install
mysql <options> < load.sql

SQLite

Improve performance with SQLite with an extension. Download percentile.c and follow the instructions for compiling loadable extensions for your platform.

On Linux, use:

gcc -g -fPIC -shared -lsqlite3 percentile.c -o percentile.so

On Mac, use:

gcc -g -fPIC -dynamiclib -L/usr/local/opt/sqlite/lib -lsqlite3 percentile.c -o percentile.dylib

To load it in Rails, create an initializer with:

db = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.raw_connection
db.enable_load_extension(1)
db.load_extension("percentile.so") # or percentile.dylib
db.enable_load_extension(0)

History

View the changelog

Contributing

Everyone is encouraged to help improve this project. Here are a few ways you can help:

To get started with development:

git clone https://github.com/ankane/active_median.git
cd active_median
bundle install

# Postgres
createdb active_median_test
bundle exec rake test

# SQLite
ADAPTER=sqlite3 BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/sqlite3.gemfile bundle exec rake test

# MariaDB and MySQL (for MySQL, install the extension first)
mysqladmin create active_median_test
ADAPTER=mysql2 BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/mysql2.gemfile bundle exec rake test

# SQL Server
docker run -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=YourStrong!Passw0rd' -p 1433:1433 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
docker exec -it <container-id> /opt/mssql-tools18/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P YourStrong\!Passw0rd -C -Q "CREATE DATABASE active_median_test"
ADAPTER=sqlserver BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/sqlserver.gemfile bundle exec rake test

# MongoDB
BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/mongoid7.gemfile bundle exec rake test

Contributors

ankane

234 commits

nickelser

1 commits

ankane/active_median

Median and percentile for Active Record, Mongoid, arrays, and hashes

474

stars

235

commits

Ruby

primary language

Aug 26, 2026

updated

README

ActiveMedian

Median and percentile for Active Record, Mongoid, arrays, and hashes

Supports:

  • PostgreSQL
  • SQLite
  • MariaDB
  • MySQL (with an extension)
  • SQL Server
  • MongoDB

:fire: Uses native functions for blazing performance

Build Status

Getting Started

Add this line to your application’s Gemfile:

gem "active_median"

For MySQL, also follow these instructions.

Models

Median

Item.median(:price)

Percentile

Request.percentile(:response_time, 0.95)

Works with grouping, too

Order.group(:store_id).median(:total)

Arrays and Hashes

Median

[1, 2, 3].median

Percentile

[1, 2, 3].percentile(0.95)

You can also pass a block

{a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}.median { |k, v| v }

Additional Instructions

MySQL

MySQL requires the PERCENTILE_CONT function from udf_infusion. To install it, do:

git clone https://github.com/infusion/udf_infusion.git
cd udf_infusion
./configure --enable-functions="percentile_cont"
make
sudo make install
mysql <options> < load.sql

SQLite

Improve performance with SQLite with an extension. Download percentile.c and follow the instructions for compiling loadable extensions for your platform.

On Linux, use:

gcc -g -fPIC -shared -lsqlite3 percentile.c -o percentile.so

On Mac, use:

gcc -g -fPIC -dynamiclib -L/usr/local/opt/sqlite/lib -lsqlite3 percentile.c -o percentile.dylib

To load it in Rails, create an initializer with:

db = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.raw_connection
db.enable_load_extension(1)
db.load_extension("percentile.so") # or percentile.dylib
db.enable_load_extension(0)

History

View the changelog

Contributing

Everyone is encouraged to help improve this project. Here are a few ways you can help:

To get started with development:

git clone https://github.com/ankane/active_median.git
cd active_median
bundle install

# Postgres
createdb active_median_test
bundle exec rake test

# SQLite
ADAPTER=sqlite3 BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/sqlite3.gemfile bundle exec rake test

# MariaDB and MySQL (for MySQL, install the extension first)
mysqladmin create active_median_test
ADAPTER=mysql2 BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/mysql2.gemfile bundle exec rake test

# SQL Server
docker run -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=YourStrong!Passw0rd' -p 1433:1433 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
docker exec -it <container-id> /opt/mssql-tools18/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P YourStrong\!Passw0rd -C -Q "CREATE DATABASE active_median_test"
ADAPTER=sqlserver BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/sqlserver.gemfile bundle exec rake test

# MongoDB
BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/mongoid7.gemfile bundle exec rake test

Contributors

ankane

234 commits

nickelser

1 commits

Languages

Ruby

100.0%