最好的方法是使用pre_save信号。在09年这个问题被提出并回答的时候，可能还没有这个选项，但今天看到这个问题的人应该这样做:

@receiver(pre_save, sender=MyModel)
def do_something_if_changed(sender, instance, **kwargs):
    try:
        obj = sender.objects.get(pk=instance.pk)
    except sender.DoesNotExist:
        pass # Object is new, so field hasn't technically changed, but you may want to do something else here.
    else:
        if not obj.some_field == instance.some_field: # Field has changed
            # do something

从Django 1.8开始，就有了from_db方法，Serge提到过。事实上，Django文档中包含了这样一个特定的用例:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/models/instances/#customizing-model-loading

下面是一个示例，展示如何记录从数据库加载的字段的初始值

我使用以下mixin:

from django.forms.models import model_to_dict


class ModelDiffMixin(object):
    """
    A model mixin that tracks model fields' values and provide some useful api
    to know what fields have been changed.
    """

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(ModelDiffMixin, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.__initial = self._dict

    @property
    def diff(self):
        d1 = self.__initial
        d2 = self._dict
        diffs = [(k, (v, d2[k])) for k, v in d1.items() if v != d2[k]]
        return dict(diffs)

    @property
    def has_changed(self):
        return bool(self.diff)

    @property
    def changed_fields(self):
        return self.diff.keys()

    def get_field_diff(self, field_name):
        """
        Returns a diff for field if it's changed and None otherwise.
        """
        return self.diff.get(field_name, None)

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        Saves model and set initial state.
        """
        super(ModelDiffMixin, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
        self.__initial = self._dict

    @property
    def _dict(self):
        return model_to_dict(self, fields=[field.name for field in
                             self._meta.fields])

用法:

>>> p = Place()
>>> p.has_changed
False
>>> p.changed_fields
[]
>>> p.rank = 42
>>> p.has_changed
True
>>> p.changed_fields
['rank']
>>> p.diff
{'rank': (0, 42)}
>>> p.categories = [1, 3, 5]
>>> p.diff
{'categories': (None, [1, 3, 5]), 'rank': (0, 42)}
>>> p.get_field_diff('categories')
(None, [1, 3, 5])
>>> p.get_field_diff('rank')
(0, 42)
>>>

Note

请注意，此解决方案仅在当前请求的上下文中工作良好。因此，它主要适用于简单的情况。在并发环境中，多个请求可以同时操作同一个模型实例，您肯定需要一种不同的方法。

有一个属性__dict__，它将所有字段作为键，并将值作为字段值。所以我们可以比较其中两个

只需将模型的save函数更改为下面的函数即可

def save(self, force_insert=False, force_update=False, using=None, update_fields=None):
    if self.pk is not None:
        initial = A.objects.get(pk=self.pk)
        initial_json, final_json = initial.__dict__.copy(), self.__dict__.copy()
        initial_json.pop('_state'), final_json.pop('_state')
        only_changed_fields = {k: {'final_value': final_json[k], 'initial_value': initial_json[k]} for k in initial_json if final_json[k] != initial_json[k]}
        print(only_changed_fields)
    super(A, self).save(force_insert=False, force_update=False, using=None, update_fields=None)

使用示例:

class A(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200, null=True, blank=True)
    senior = models.CharField(choices=choices, max_length=3)
    timestamp = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True)

    def save(self, force_insert=False, force_update=False, using=None, update_fields=None):
        if self.pk is not None:
            initial = A.objects.get(pk=self.pk)
            initial_json, final_json = initial.__dict__.copy(), self.__dict__.copy()
            initial_json.pop('_state'), final_json.pop('_state')
            only_changed_fields = {k: {'final_value': final_json[k], 'initial_value': initial_json[k]} for k in initial_json if final_json[k] != initial_json[k]}
            print(only_changed_fields)
        super(A, self).save(force_insert=False, force_update=False, using=None, update_fields=None)

产生只包含已更改字段的输出

{'name': {'initial_value': '1234515', 'final_value': 'nim'}, 'senior': {'initial_value': 'no', 'final_value': 'yes'}}

用David Cramer的解决方案怎么样:

http://cramer.io/2010/12/06/tracking-changes-to-fields-in-django/

我曾经这样成功地使用过:

@track_data('name')
class Mode(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=5)
    mode = models.CharField(max_length=5)

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        if self.has_changed('name'):
            print 'name changed'

    # OR #

    @classmethod
    def post_save(cls, sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
        if instance.has_changed('name'):
            print "Hooray!"

另一个迟来的答案，但如果你只是想看看一个新文件是否已经上传到一个文件字段，试试这个:(改编自Christopher Adams对链接http://zmsmith.com/2010/05/django-check-if-a-field-has-changed/的评论在zach的评论这里)

更新链接:https://web.archive.org/web/20130101010327/http://zmsmith.com:80/2010/05/django-check-if-a-field-has-changed/

def save(self, *args, **kw):
    from django.core.files.uploadedfile import UploadedFile
    if hasattr(self.image, 'file') and isinstance(self.image.file, UploadedFile) :
        # Handle FileFields as special cases, because the uploaded filename could be
        # the same as the filename that's already there even though there may
        # be different file contents.

        # if a file was just uploaded, the storage model with be UploadedFile
        # Do new file stuff here
        pass