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Neo4j Cypher Cheatsheet

A comprehensive cheat sheet for Neo4j's Cypher query language, covering syntax, common operations, and best practices for graph database interactions.

Cypher Basics

Nodes and Relationships

Nodes represent entities in the graph. Relationships define connections between nodes.

Nodes: (node_name:Label {property1: value1, property2: value2})
Relationships: -[relationship_name:RELATIONSHIP_TYPE {property1: value1}]->

Example of Node creation:

CREATE (p:Person {name: 'Alice', age: 30})

Example of Relationship creation:

MATCH (a:Person {name: 'Alice'}), (b:Person {name: 'Bob'})
CREATE (a)-[r:KNOWS]->(b)

Basic Syntax

MATCH

Used to find nodes and relationships in the graph based on a pattern.

CREATE

Used to create new nodes and relationships in the graph.

SET

Used to update properties of nodes and relationships.

DELETE

Used to delete nodes and relationships.

REMOVE

Used to remove properties or labels from nodes and relationships.

RETURN

Specifies what data should be returned by the query.

Common Clauses

WHERE: Filters the results based on specified conditions.
ORDER BY: Sorts the results based on specified properties.
LIMIT: Limits the number of results returned.
SKIP: Skips a specified number of results.

Example:

MATCH (n:Person) WHERE n.age > 25 RETURN n ORDER BY n.name LIMIT 10 SKIP 5

Pattern Matching

Basic Pattern Matching

Matching Nodes: MATCH (n:Label)
Matching Relationships: MATCH (n)-[r:REL_TYPE]->(m)
Matching Paths: MATCH p=(n)-[r*]->(m) (variable length paths)

Examples:

MATCH (a:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(b:Person) RETURN a, b
MATCH (a {name: 'Alice'})-[:KNOWS]->(b) RETURN b

Variable Length Relationships

-[r*n]->

Match relationships of exactly length n.

-[r*n..m]->

Match relationships of length between n and m.

-[r*n..]->

Match relationships of minimum length n.

-[r*..m]->

Match relationships of maximum length m.

-[r*]->

Match relationships of any length (including zero).

Directional Relationships

Directed: (a)-[:REL]->(b)
Undirected: (a)-[:REL]-(b)
Direction doesn’t matter: (a)<-[:REL]->(b)

Example:

MATCH (a:Person)-[:FRIEND_OF]->(b:Person) RETURN a, b

Data Manipulation

Creating Nodes and Relationships

Creating a Node: CREATE (n:Label {properties})
Creating a Relationship: CREATE (a)-[r:REL_TYPE {properties}]->(b)

Example:

CREATE (c:City {name: 'New York', country: 'USA'})
MATCH (p:Person {name: 'Alice'}), (c:City {name: 'New York'})
CREATE (p)-[:LIVES_IN]->(c)

Updating Data

SET n.property = value

Updates or creates a property on a node or relationship.

SET n = {properties}

Replaces all properties on a node or relationship.

REMOVE n.property

Removes a specific property from a node or relationship.

REMOVE n:Label

Removes a label from a node.

Deleting Data

DELETE n: Deletes a node.
DELETE r: Deletes a relationship.
Note: You must first delete relationships connected to a node before deleting the node itself, or use DETACH DELETE n.

Example:

MATCH (n:Person {name: 'Alice'}) DETACH DELETE n

Advanced Cypher

Aggregations

Cypher supports aggregation functions like COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX, COLLECT.
These are typically used with the WITH clause to group and aggregate data.

Example:

MATCH (n:Person)-[:FRIEND_OF]->(f)
WITH n, count(f) AS friendCount
RETURN n.name, friendCount ORDER BY friendCount DESC

List Comprehension

[x IN list WHERE condition | expression]

Creates a new list based on an existing list, filtering and transforming elements.

Example:

 
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, [friend IN [(p)-[:FRIEND_OF]->(f) | f.name] WHERE friend IS NOT NULL] AS friends

Procedures and Functions

Neo4j has built-in procedures and functions, and you can also create your own.
CALL db.indexes(): Lists all indexes.
RETURN toInteger('42'): Converts a value to an integer.

Example:

CALL db.indexes()
YIELD name, type
RETURN name, type
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