http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1438587/fetch-object-by-property-in-core-data

coredata_fetch+save.m

    NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
    NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"YourEntityName" inManagedObjectContext:managedObjectContext];
    [request setEntity:entity];
    // retrive the objects with a given value for a certain property
    NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat: @"property == %@", value];
    [request setPredicate:predicate];

    // Edit the sort key as appropriate.
    NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"yourSortKey" ascending:YES];
    NSArray *sortDescriptors = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:sortDescriptor, nil];
    [request setSortDescriptors:sortDescriptors];



    // Edit the section name key path and cache name if appropriate.
    // nil for section name key path means "no sections".
    NSFetchedResultsController *aFetchedResultsController = [[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:request managedObjectContext:managedObjectContext sectionNameKeyPath:nil cacheName:@"Root"];
    aFetchedResultsController.delegate = self;

    NSError *error = nil;
    NSArray *result = [managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:request error:&error];

    [request release];
    [sortDescriptor release];
    [sortDescriptors release];


    if ((result != nil) && ([result count]) && (error == nil)){
         return [NSMutableArray arrayWithArray:result];
    }
    else{
        YourEntityName *object = (YourEntityName *) [NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:@"YourEntityName" inManagedObjectContext:self.managedObjectContext];
            // setup your object attributes, for instance set its name
            object.name = @"name"

            // save object
            NSError *error;
            if (![[self managedObjectContext] save:&error]) {
             // Handle error
             NSLog(@"Unresolved error %@, %@", error, [error userInfo]);

            }

            return object;

   }