# ActiveSupport#presence method

We want to set the default role to `guest` if both `params[:role]` is blank. By blank I mean either these values hold `nil` or `''` .

**Old way**

```ruby
def role(params: {})
    params[:role].present? ? params[:role] : 'guest'
end
```

**Using** [**ActiveSupport#presence**](https://www.rubydoc.info/gems/activesupport/2.3.17/Object:presence)

```ruby
def role(params: {})
    params[:role].presence || 'guest'
end
```

It makes our code clean. [**ActiveSupport#presence**](https://www.rubydoc.info/gems/activesupport/2.3.17/Object:presence) returns an object if it’s `#present?` otherwise returns `nil`. `object.presence` is equivalent to `object.present? ? object : nil`

**Another example:**

```ruby
def address(params: {})
  params[:state].presence ||
    params[:city].presence ||
    params[:country].presence ||
    'US'
end
```

Happy coding 🤘