Graph Query Language (GQL) lets you execute multiple linear graph queries in one query. Each linear graph query generates results (the working table) and then passes those results to the next.
GQL supports the following building blocks, which can be composited into a GQL query based on the syntax rules.
Language list Name Summary GQL syntax Creates a graph query with the GQL syntax.GRAPH
clause Specifies a property graph to query. FILTER
statement Filters out rows in the query results that don't satisfy a specified condition. FOR
statement Unnests an ARRAY
-typed expression. LET
statement Defines variables and assigns values for later use in the current linear query statement. LIMIT
statement Limits the number of query results. MATCH
statement Matches data described by a graph pattern. NEXT
statement Chains multiple linear query statements together. OFFSET
statement Skips a specified number of rows in the query results. ORDER BY
statement Orders the query results. RETURN
statement Marks the end of a linear query statement and returns the results. SKIP
statement Synonym for the OFFSET
statement. WITH
statement Passes on the specified columns, optionally filtering, renaming, and transforming those results. Set operation Combines a sequence of linear query statements with a set operation. Graph hints Query hints, which make the query optimizer use a specific operator in the execution plan. GQL syntax
graph_query: GRAPH clause multi_linear_query_statement multi_linear_query_statement: linear_query_statement [ NEXT linear_query_statement ] [...] linear_query_statement: { simple_linear_query_statement | composite_linear_query_statement } composite_linear_query_statement: simple_linear_query_statement set_operator simple_linear_query_statement [...] simple_linear_query_statement: primitive_query_statement [...]Description
Creates a graph query with the GQL syntax. The syntax rules define how to composite the building blocks of GQL into a query.
Definitionsprimitive_query_statement
: A statement in Query statements except for the NEXT
statement.simple_linear_query_statement
: A list of primitive_query_statement
s that ends with a RETURN
statement.composite_linear_query_statement
: A list of simple_linear_query_statement
s composited with the set operators.linear_query_statement
: A statement that's either a simple_linear_query_statement
or a composite_linear_query_statement
.multi_linear_query_statement
: A list of linear_query_statement
s chained together with the NEXT
statement.graph_query
: A GQL query that starts with a GRAPH
clause, then follows with a multi_linear_query_statement
.GRAPH
clause
GRAPH property_graph_name multi_linear_query_statementDescription
Specifies a property graph to query. This clause must be added before the first linear query statement in a graph query.
Definitionsproperty_graph_name
: The name of the property graph to query.multi_linear_query_statement
: A multi linear query statement. For more information, see multi_linear_query_statement
in GQL syntax.The following example queries the FinGraph
property graph to find accounts with incoming transfers and looks up their owners:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (:Account)-[:Transfers]->(account:Account)
RETURN account, COUNT(*) AS num_incoming_transfers
GROUP BY account
NEXT
MATCH (account:Account)<-[:Owns]-(owner:Person)
RETURN
account.id AS account_id, owner.name AS owner_name,
num_incoming_transfers
/*--------------------------------------------------+
| account_id | owner_name | num_incoming_transfers |
+--------------------------------------------------+
| 7 | Alex | 1 |
| 20 | Dana | 1 |
| 6 | Lee | 3 |
+--------------------------------------------------*/
FILTER
statement
FILTER [ WHERE ] bool_expressionDescription
Filters out rows in the query results that don't satisfy a specified condition.
Definitionsbool_expression
: A boolean expression. Only rows whose bool_expression
evaluates to TRUE
are included. Rows whose bool_expression
evaluates to NULL
or FALSE
are discarded.The FILTER
statement can reference columns in the working table.
The syntax for the FILTER
statement is similar to the syntax for the graph pattern WHERE
clause, but they are evaluated differently. The FILTER
statement is evaluated after the previous statement. The WHERE
clause is evaluated as part of the containing statement.
FinGraph
.
In the following query, only people who were born before 1990-01-10
are included in the results table:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)-[o:Owns]->(a:Account)
FILTER p.Id <> 1
RETURN p.name, a.Id AS account_id
/*--------+------------+
| name | account_id |
+--------+------------+
| "Dana" | 20 |
| "Lee" | 16 |
+--------+------------*/
WHERE
is an optional keyword that you can include in a FILTER
statement. The following query is semantically identical to the previous query:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)-[o:Owns]->(a:Account)
FILTER WHERE p.Id <> 1
RETURN p.name, a.Id AS account_id
/*--------+------------+
| name | account_id |
+--------+------------+
| "Dana" | 20 |
| "Lee" | 16 |
+--------+------------*/
In the following example, FILTER
follows an aggregation step with grouping. Semantically, it's similar to the HAVING
clause in SQL:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(dest:Account)
RETURN source, COUNT(e) AS num_transfers
GROUP BY source
NEXT
FILTER WHERE num_transfers > 1
RETURN source.id AS source_id, num_transfers
/*---------------------------+
| source_id | num_transfers |
+---------------------------+
| 7 | 2 |
| 20 | 2 |
+---------------------------*/
In the following example, an error is produced because FILTER
references m
, which isn't in the working table:
-- Error: m doesn't exist
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)-[o:Owns]->(a:Account)
FILTER WHERE m.Id <> 1
RETURN p.name
In the following example, an error is produced because even though p
is in the working table, p
doesn't have a property called date_of_birth
:
-- ERROR: date_of_birth isn't a property of p
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)-[o:Owns]->(a:Account)
FILTER WHERE p.date_of_birth < '1990-01-10'
RETURN p.name
FOR
statement
FOR element_name IN array_expression [ with_offset_clause ] with_offset_clause: WITH OFFSET [ AS offset_name ]Description
Unnests an ARRAY
-typed expression and joins the result with the current working table.
array_expression
: An ARRAY
-typed expression.element_name
: The name of the element column. The name can't be the name of a column that already exists in the current linear query statement.offset_name
: The name of the offset column. The name can't be the name of a column that already exists in the current linear query statement. If not specified, the default is offset
.The FOR
statement expands the working table by defining a new column for the elements of array_expression
, with an optional offset column. The cardinality of the working table might change as a result.
The FOR
statement can reference columns in the working table.
The FOR
statement evaluation is similar to the UNNEST
operator.
The FOR
statement doesn't preserve order.
And empty or NULL
array_expression
produces zero rows.
The keyword WITH
following the FOR
statement is always interpreted as the beginning of with_offset_clause
. If you want to use the WITH
statement following the FOR
statement, you should fully qualify the FOR
statement with with_offset_clause
, or use the RETURN
statement instead of the WITH
statement.
FinGraph
.
In the following query, there are three rows in the working table prior to the FOR
statement. After the FOR
statement, each row is expanded into two rows, one per element
value from the array.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)-[o:Owns]->(a:Account)
FOR element in ["all","some"] WITH OFFSET
RETURN p.Id, element as alert_type, offset
ORDER BY p.Id, element, offset
/*----------------------------+
| Id | alert_type | offset |
+----------------------------+
| 1 | all | 0 |
| 1 | some | 1 |
| 2 | all | 0 |
| 2 | some | 1 |
| 3 | all | 0 |
| 3 | some | 1 |
+----------------------------*/
In the following query, there are two rows in the working table prior to the FOR
statement. After the FOR
statement, each row is expanded into a different number of rows, based on the value of array_expression
for that row.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)-[o:Owns]->(a:Account)
FILTER WHERE p.Id <> 1
FOR element in GENERATE_ARRAY(1, p.Id)
RETURN p.Id, element
ORDER BY p.Id, element
/*----------------+
| Id | element |
+----------------+
| 2 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
+----------------*/
In the following query, there are three rows in the working table prior to the FOR
statement. After the FOR
statement, no row is produced because array_expression
is an empty array.
-- No rows produced
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
FOR element in [] WITH OFFSET AS off
RETURN p.name, element, off
In the following query, there are three rows in the working table prior to the FOR
statement. After the FOR
statement, no row is produced because array_expression
is a NULL
array.
-- No rows produced
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
FOR element in CAST(NULL AS ARRAY<STRING>) WITH OFFSET
RETURN p.name, element, offset
In the following example, an error is produced because WITH
is used directly After the FOR
statement. The query can be fixed by adding WITH OFFSET
after the FOR
statement, or by using RETURN
directly instead of WITH
.
-- Error: Expected keyword OFFSET but got identifier "element"
GRAPH FinGraph
FOR element in [1,2,3]
WITH element as col
RETURN col
ORDER BY col
GRAPH FinGraph
FOR element in [1,2,3] WITH OFFSET
WITH element as col
RETURN col
ORDER BY col
/*-----+
| col |
+-----+
| 1 |
| 2 |
| 3 |
+-----*/
LET
statement
LET linear_graph_variable[, ...] linear_graph_variable: variable_name = valueDescription
Defines variables and assigns values to them for later use in the current linear query statement.
Definitionslinear_graph_variable
: The variable to define.variable_name
: The name of the variable.value
: A scalar expression that represents the value of the variable. The names referenced by this expression must be in the incoming working table.LET
doesn't change the cardinality of the working table nor modify its existing columns.
The variable can only be used in the current linear query statement. To use it in a following linear query statement, you must include it in the RETURN
statement as a column.
You can't define and reference a variable within the same LET
statement.
You can't redefine a variable with the same name.
You can use horizontal aggregate functions in this statement. To learn more, see Horizontal aggregate function calls in GQL.
Examples Note: The examples in this section reference a property graph calledFinGraph
.
In the following graph query, the variable a
is defined and then referenced later:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
RETURN a.id AS a_id
/*------+
| a_id |
+------+
| 20 |
| 7 |
| 7 |
| 20 |
| 16 |
+------*/
The following LET
statement in the second linear query statement is valid because a
is defined and returned from the first linear query statement:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
RETURN a
NEXT
LET b = a -- Valid: 'a' is defined and returned from the linear query statement above.
RETURN b.id AS b_id
/*------+
| b_id |
+------+
| 20 |
| 7 |
| 7 |
| 20 |
| 16 |
+------*/
The following LET
statement in the second linear query statement is invalid because a
isn't returned from the first linear query statement.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
RETURN source.id
NEXT
LET b = a -- ERROR: 'a' doesn't exist.
RETURN b.id AS b_id
The following LET
statement is invalid because a
is defined and then referenced in the same LET
statement:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source, b = a -- ERROR: Can't define and reference 'a' in the same operation.
RETURN a
The following LET
statement is valid because a
is defined first and then referenced afterwards:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
LET b = a
RETURN b.id AS b_id
/*------+
| b_id |
+------+
| 20 |
| 7 |
| 7 |
| 20 |
| 16 |
+------*/
In the following examples, the LET
statements are invalid because a
is redefined:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source, a = destination -- ERROR: 'a' has already been defined.
RETURN a.id AS a_id
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
LET a = destination -- ERROR: 'a' has already been defined.
RETURN a.id AS a_id
In the following examples, the LET
statements are invalid because b
is redefined:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
LET b = destination
RETURN a, b
NEXT
MATCH (a)
LET b = a -- ERROR: 'b' has already been defined.
RETURN b.id
The following LET
statement is valid because although b
is defined in the first linear query statement, it's not passed to the second linear query statement:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
LET a = source
LET b = destination
RETURN a
NEXT
MATCH (a)
LET b = a
RETURN b.id
/*------+
| b_id |
+------+
| 20 |
| 7 |
| 7 |
| 20 |
| 16 |
+------*/
LIMIT
statement
LIMIT countDescription
Limits the number of query results.
Definitionscount
: A non-negative INT64
value that represents the number of results to produce. For more information, see the LIMIT
and OFFSET
clauses.The LIMIT
statement can appear before the RETURN
statement. You can also use it as a qualifying clause in the RETURN
statement.
FinGraph
.
The following example uses the LIMIT
statement to limit the query results to three rows:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (source:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(destination:Account)
ORDER BY source.Id
LIMIT 3
RETURN source.Id, source.nick_name
/*---------+---------------+
| Id | nick_name |
+---------+---------------+
| 7 | Vacation fund |
| 7 | Vacation fund |
| 16 | Vacation fund |
+-------------------------*/
The following query finds the account and its owner with the most outgoing transfers to a blocked account:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src_account:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst_account:Account {is_blocked:true})
RETURN src_account, COUNT(transfer) as total_transfers
ORDER BY total_transfers
LIMIT 1
NEXT
MATCH (src_account:Account)<-[owns:Owns]-(owner:Person)
RETURN src_account.id AS account_id, owner.name AS owner_name
/*-------------------------+
| account_id | owner_name |
+-------------------------+
| 20 | Dana |
+-------------------------*/
MATCH
statement
[ OPTIONAL ] MATCH [ match_hint ] graph_patternDescription
Matches data described by a graph pattern. You can have zero or more MATCH
statements in a linear query statement.
MATCH graph_pattern
: The graph pattern to match. For more information, see MATCH
graph pattern definition.OPTIONAL MATCH graph_pattern
: The graph pattern to optionally match. If there are missing parts in the pattern, the missing parts are represented by NULL
values. For more information, see OPTIONAL MATCH
graph pattern definition.match_hint
: A hint that makes the query optimizer use a specific statement in the execution plan. This statement supports graph hints. For more information, see Graph hints.The MATCH
statement joins the incoming working table with the matched result with either INNER JOIN
or CROSS JOIN
semantics.
The INNER JOIN
semantics is used when the working table and matched result have variables in common. In the following example, the INNER JOIN
semantics is used because friend
is produced by both MATCH
statements:
MATCH (person:Person)-[:knows]->(friend:Person)
MATCH (friend)-[:knows]->(otherFriend:Person)
The CROSS JOIN
semantics is used when the incoming working table and matched result have no variables in common. In the following example, the CROSS JOIN
semantics is used because person1
and friend
exist in the result of the first MATCH
statement, but not the second one:
MATCH (person1:Person)-[:knows]->(friend:Person)
MATCH (person2:Person)-[:knows]->(otherFriend:Person)
Examples Note: The examples in this section reference a property graph called FinGraph
.
The following query matches all Person
nodes and returns the name and ID of each person:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, p.id
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Alex | 1 |
| Dana | 2 |
| Lee | 3 |
+-----------*/
The following query matches all Person
and Account
nodes and returns their labels and ID:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (n:Person|Account)
RETURN LABELS(n) AS label, n.id
/*----------------+
| label | id |
+----------------+
| [Account] | 7 |
| [Account] | 16 |
| [Account] | 20 |
| [Person] | 1 |
| [Person] | 2 |
| [Person] | 3 |
+----------------*/
The following query matches all Account
nodes that aren't blocked:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (a:Account {is_blocked: false})
RETURN a.id
/*----+
| id |
+----+
| 7 |
| 20 |
+----*/
The following query matches all Person
nodes that have a birthday
less than 1990-01-10
:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person WHERE p.birthday < '1990-01-10')
RETURN p.name
/*------+
| name |
+------+
| Dana |
| Lee |
+------*/
The following query matches all Owns
edges:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH -[e:Owns]->
RETURN e.id
/*----+
| id |
+----+
| 1 |
| 3 |
| 2 |
+----*/
The following query matches all Owns
edges created within a specific period of time:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH -[e:Owns WHERE e.create_time > '2020-01-14' AND e.create_time < '2020-05-14']->
RETURN e.id
/*----+
| id |
+----+
| 2 |
| 3 |
+----*/
The following query matches all Transfers
edges where a blocked account is involved in any direction:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (account:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]-(:Account {is_blocked:true})
RETURN transfer.order_number, transfer.amount
/*--------------------------+
| order_number | amount |
+--------------------------+
| 304330008004315 | 300 |
| 304120005529714 | 100 |
| 103650009791820 | 300 |
| 302290001255747 | 200 |
+--------------------------*/
The following query matches all Transfers
initiated from an Account
owned by Person
with id
equal to 2
:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH
(p:Person {id: 2})-[:Owns]->(account:Account)-[t:Transfers]->
(to_account:Account)
RETURN p.id AS sender_id, to_account.id AS to_id
/*-------------------+
| sender_id | to_id |
+-------------------+
| 2 | 7 |
| 2 | 16 |
+-------------------*/
The following query matches all the destination Accounts
one to three transfers away from a source Account
with id
equal to 7
, other than the source itself:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account {id: 7})-[e:Transfers]->{1, 3}(dst:Account)
WHERE src != dst
RETURN ARRAY_LENGTH(e) AS hops, dst.id AS destination_account_id
/*-------------------------------+
| hops | destination_account_id |
+-------------------------------+
| 1 | 16 |
| 3 | 16 |
| 3 | 16 |
| 1 | 16 |
| 2 | 20 |
| 2 | 20 |
+-------------------------------*/
The following query matches paths between Account
nodes with one to two Transfers
edges through intermediate accounts that are blocked:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH
(src:Account)
((a:Account)-[:Transfers]->(b:Account {is_blocked:true}) WHERE a != b ){1,2}
-[:Transfers]->(dst:Account)
RETURN src.id AS source_account_id, dst.id AS destination_account_id
/*--------------------------------------------+
| source_account_id | destination_account_id |
+--------------------------------------------+
| 7 | 20 |
| 7 | 20 |
| 20 | 20 |
+--------------------------------------------*/
The following query finds unique reachable accounts which are one or two transfers away from a given Account
node:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH ANY (src:Account {id: 7})-[e:Transfers]->{1,2}(dst:Account)
LET ids_in_path = ARRAY_CONCAT(ARRAY_AGG(e.Id), [dst.Id])
RETURN src.id AS source_account_id, dst.id AS destination_account_id, ids_in_path
/*----------------------------------------------------------+
| source_account_id | destination_account_id | ids_in_path |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| 7 | 16 | [7, 16] |
| 7 | 20 | [7, 16, 20] |
+----------------------------------------------------------*/
The following query matches all Person
nodes and optionally matches the blocked Account
owned by the Person
. The missing blocked Account
is represented as NULL
:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (n:Person)
OPTIONAL MATCH (n:Person)-[:Owns]->(a:Account {is_blocked: TRUE})
RETURN n.name, a.id AS blocked_account_id
/*--------------+
| name | id |
+--------------+
| Lee | 16 |
| Alex | NULL |
| Dana | NULL |
+--------------*/
NEXT
statement
NEXTDescription
Chains multiple linear query statements together.
Examples Note: The examples in this section reference a property graph calledFinGraph
.
The following linear query statements are chained by the NEXT
statement:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (:Account)-[:Transfers]->(account:Account)
RETURN account, COUNT(*) AS num_incoming_transfers
GROUP BY account
NEXT
MATCH (account:Account)<-[:Owns]-(owner:Person)
RETURN
account.id AS account_id, owner.name AS owner_name,
num_incoming_transfers
NEXT
FILTER num_incoming_transfers < 2
RETURN account_id, owner_name
/*-------------------------+
| account_id | owner_name |
+-------------------------+
| 7 | Alex |
| 20 | Dana |
+-------------------------*/
OFFSET
statement
OFFSET countDescription
Skips a specified number of rows in the query results.
Definitionscount
: A non-negative INT64
value that represents the number of rows to skip. For more information, see the LIMIT
and OFFSET
clauses.The OFFSET
statement can appear anywhere in a linear query statement before the RETURN
statement.
FinGraph
.
In the following example, the first two rows aren't included in the results:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
OFFSET 2
RETURN p.name, p.id
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Lee | 3 |
+-----------*/
ORDER BY
statement
ORDER BY order_by_specification[, ...] order_by_specification: expression [ COLLATE collation_specification ] [ { ASC | ASCENDING | DESC | DESCENDING } ]Description
Orders the query results.
Definitionsexpression
: The sort criterion for the result set. For more information, see the ORDER BY
clause.COLLATE collation_specification
: The collation specification for expression
. For more information, see the ORDER BY
clause.ASC | ASCENDING | DESC | DESCENDING
: The sort order, which can be either ascending or descending. The following options are synonymous:
ASC
and ASCENDING
DESC
and DESCENDING
For more information about sort order, see the ORDER BY
clause.
Ordinals aren't supported in the ORDER BY
statement.
The ORDER BY
statement is ignored unless it's immediately followed by the LIMIT
or OFFSET
statement.
If you would like to apply ORDER BY
to what is in RETURN
statement, use the ORDER BY
clause in RETURN
statement. For more information, see RETURN
statement.
FinGraph
.
The following query sorts the results by the transfer.amount
values in descending order:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src_account:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst_account:Account)
ORDER BY transfer.amount DESC
LIMIT 3
RETURN src_account.id AS account_id, transfer.amount AS transfer_amount
/*------------------------------+
| account_id | transfer_amount |
+------------------------------+
| 20 | 500 |
| 7 | 300 |
| 16 | 300 |
+------------------------------*/
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src_account:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst_account:Account)
ORDER BY transfer.amount DESC
OFFSET 1
RETURN src_account.id AS account_id, transfer.amount AS transfer_amount
/*------------------------------+
| account_id | transfer_amount |
+------------------------------+
| 7 | 300 |
| 16 | 300 |
| 20 | 200 |
| 7 | 100 |
+------------------------------*/
If you don't include the LIMIT
or OFFSET
statement right after the ORDER BY
statement, the effect of ORDER BY
is discarded and the result is unordered.
-- Warning: The transfer.amount values aren't sorted because the
-- LIMIT statement is missing.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src_account:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst_account:Account)
ORDER BY transfer.amount DESC
RETURN src_account.id AS account_id, transfer.amount AS transfer_amount
/*------------------------------+
| account_id | transfer_amount |
+------------------------------+
| 7 | 300 |
| 7 | 100 |
| 16 | 300 |
| 20 | 500 |
| 20 | 200 |
+------------------------------*/
-- Warning: Using the LIMIT clause in the RETURN statement, but not immediately
-- after the ORDER BY statement, also returns the unordered transfer.amount
-- values.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src_account:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst_account:Account)
ORDER BY transfer.amount DESC
RETURN src_account.id AS account_id, transfer.amount AS transfer_amount
LIMIT 10
/*------------------------------+
| account_id | transfer_amount |
+------------------------------+
| 7 | 300 |
| 7 | 100 |
| 16 | 300 |
| 20 | 500 |
| 20 | 200 |
+------------------------------*/
RETURN
statement
RETURN *
RETURN [ { ALL | DISTINCT } ] return_item[, ... ] [ group_by_clause ] [ order_by_clause ] [ limit_and_offset_clauses ] return_item: { expression [ AS alias ] | * } limit_and_offset_clauses: { limit_clause | offset_clause | offset_clause limit_clause }Description
Marks the end of a linear query statement and returns the results. Only one RETURN
statement is allowed in a linear query statement.
*
: Returns all columns in the current working table.return_item
: A column to include in the results.ALL
: Returns all rows. This is equivalent to not using any prefix.DISTINCT
: Duplicate rows are discarded and only the remaining distinct rows are returned. This deduplication takes place after any aggregation is performed.expression
: An expression that represents a column to produce. Aggregation is supported.alias
: An alias for expression
.group_by_clause
: Groups the current rows of the working table, using the GROUP BY
clause.order_by_clause
: Orders the current rows in a linear query statement, using the ORDER BY
clause.limit_clause
: Limits the number of current rows in a linear query statement, using the LIMIT
clause.offset_clause
: Skips a specified number of rows in a linear query statement, using the OFFSET
clause.If any expression performs aggregation, and no GROUP BY
clause is specified, all groupable items from the return list are used implicitly as grouping keys.
Ordinals aren't supported in the ORDER BY
and GROUP BY
clauses.
FinGraph
.
The following query returns p.name
and p.id
:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, p.id
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Alex | 1 |
| Dana | 2 |
| Lee | 3 |
+-----------*/
In the following example, the first linear query statement returns all columns including p
, a
, b
, and c
. The second linear query statement returns the specified p.name
and d
columns:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
LET a = 1, b = 2, c = 3
RETURN *
NEXT
RETURN p.name, (a + b + c) AS d
/*----------+
| name | d |
+----------+
| Alex | 6 |
| Dana | 6 |
| Lee | 6 |
+----------*/
The following query returns distinct rows:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account {id: 7})-[e:Transfers]->{1, 3}(dst:Account)
RETURN DISTINCT ARRAY_LENGTH(e) AS hops, dst.id AS destination_account_id
/*-------------------------------+
| hops | destination_account_id |
+-------------------------------+
| 3 | 7 |
| 1 | 16 |
| 3 | 16 |
| 2 | 20 |
+-------------------------------*/
In the following example, the first linear query statement returns account
and aggregated num_incoming_transfers
per account. The second statement returns sorted result.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (:Account)-[:Transfers]->(account:Account)
RETURN account, COUNT(*) AS num_incoming_transfers
GROUP BY account
NEXT
MATCH (account:Account)<-[:Owns]-(owner:Person)
RETURN owner.name AS owner_name, num_incoming_transfers
ORDER BY num_incoming_transfers DESC
/*-------------------------------------+
| owner_name | num_incoming_transfers |
+-------------------------------------+
| Lee | 3 |
| Alex | 1 |
| Dana | 1 |
+-------------------------------------*/
In the following example, the LIMIT
clause in the RETURN
statement reduces the results to one row:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, p.id
LIMIT 1
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Alex | 1 |
+-----------*/
In the following example, the OFFSET
clause in the RETURN
statement skips the first row:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, p.id
OFFSET 1
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Dana | 2 |
| Lee | 3 |
+-----------*/
In the following example, the OFFSET
clause in the RETURN
statement skips the first row, then the LIMIT
clause reduces the results to one row:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, p.id
OFFSET 1
LIMIT 1
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Dana | 2 |
+-----------*/
In the following example, an error is produced because the OFFSET
clause must come before the LIMIT
clause when they are both used in the RETURN
statement:
-- Error: The LIMIT clause must come after the OFFSET clause in a
-- RETURN operation.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, p.id
LIMIT 1
OFFSET 1
In the following example, the ORDER BY
clause in the RETURN
statement sorts the results by hops
and then destination_account_id
:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account {id: 7})-[e:Transfers]->{1, 3}(dst:Account)
RETURN DISTINCT ARRAY_LENGTH(e) AS hops, dst.id AS destination_account_id
ORDER BY hops, destination_account_id
/*-------------------------------+
| hops | destination_account_id |
+-------------------------------+
| 1 | 16 |
| 2 | 20 |
| 3 | 7 |
| 3 | 16 |
+-------------------------------*/
SKIP
statement
SKIP countDescription
Synonym for the OFFSET
statement.
FinGraph
.
SKIP
is a synonym for OFFSET
. Therefore, these queries are equivalent:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
SKIP 2
RETURN p.name, p.id
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Lee | 3 |
+-----------*/
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
OFFSET 2
RETURN p.name, p.id
/*-----------+
| name | id |
+-----------+
| Lee | 3 |
+-----------*/
WITH
statement
WITH [ { ALL | DISTINCT } ] return_item[, ... ] [ group_by_clause ] return_item: { expression [ AS alias ] | * }Description
Passes on the specified columns, optionally filtering, renaming, and transforming those results.
Definitions*
: Returns all columns in the current working table.ALL
: Returns all rows. This is equivalent to not using any prefix.DISTINCT
: Returns distinct rows. Deduplication takes place after aggregations are performed.return_item
: A column to include in the results.expression
: An expression that represents a column to produce. Aggregation is supported.alias
: An alias for expression
.group_by_clause
: Groups the current rows of the working table, using the GROUP BY
clause.If any expression performs aggregation, and no GROUP BY
clause is specified, all groupable items from the return list are implicitly used as grouping keys.
Window functions aren't supported in expression
.
Ordinals aren't supported in the GROUP BY
clause.
FinGraph
.
The following query returns all distinct destination account IDs:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst:Account)
WITH DISTINCT dst
RETURN dst.id AS destination_id
/*----------------+
| destination_id |
+----------------+
| 7 |
| 16 |
| 20 |
+----------------*/
The following query uses *
to carry over the existing columns of the working table in addition to defining a new one for the destination account id.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst:Account)
WITH *, dst.id
RETURN dst.id AS destination_id
/*----------------+
| destination_id |
+----------------+
| 7 |
| 16 |
| 16 |
| 16 |
| 20 |
+----------------*/
In the following example, aggregation is performed implicitly because the WITH
statement has an aggregate expression but doesn't specify a GROUP BY
clause. All groupable items from the return item list are used as grouping keys . In this case, the grouping keys inferred are src.id
and dst.id
. Therefore, this query returns the number of transfers for each distinct combination of src.id
and dst.id
.
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst:Account)
WITH COUNT(*) AS transfer_total, src.id AS source_id, dst.id AS destination_id
RETURN transfer_total, destination_id, source_id
/*---------------------------------------------+
| transfer_total | destination_id | source_id |
+---------------------------------------------+
| 2 | 16 | 7 |
| 1 | 20 | 16 |
| 1 | 7 | 20 |
| 1 | 16 | 20 |
+---------------------------------------------*/
In the following example, an error is produced because the WITH
statement only contains dst
. src
isn't visible after the WITH
statement in the RETURN
statement.
-- Error: src doesn't exist
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (src:Account)-[transfer:Transfers]->(dst:Account)
WITH dst
RETURN src.id AS source_id
Set operation
linear_query_statement set_operator linear_query_statement [ set_operator linear_graph_query ][...] set_operator: { UNION ALL | UNION DISTINCT | INTERSECT ALL | INTERSECT DISTINCT | EXCEPT ALL | EXCEPT DISTINCT }Description
Combines a sequence of linear query statements with a set operation. Only one type of set operation is allowed per set operation.
Definitionslinear_query_statement
: A linear query statement to include in the set operation.Each linear query statement in the same set operation shares the same working table.
Most of the rules for GQL set operators are the same as those for SQL set operators, but there are some differences:
CORRESPONDING
keyword. Since each set operation input (a linear query statement) only produces columns with names, the default behavior of GQL set operations requires all inputs to have the same set of column names and all paired columns to share the same supertype.A set operation between two linear query statements with the same set of output column names and types but with different column orders is supported. For example:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, 1 AS group_id
UNION ALL
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN 2 AS group_id, p.name
/*------+----------+
| name | group_id |
+------+----------+
| Alex | 1 |
| Dana | 1 |
| Lee | 1 |
| Alex | 2 |
| Dana | 2 |
| Lee | 2 |
+------+----------*/
In a set operation, chaining the same kind of set operation is supported, but chaining different kinds of set operations isn't. For example:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, 1 AS group_id
UNION ALL
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN 2 AS group_id, p.name
UNION ALL
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN 3 AS group_id, p.name
/*------+----------+
| name | group_id |
+------+----------+
| Alex | 1 |
| Dana | 1 |
| Lee | 1 |
| Alex | 2 |
| Dana | 2 |
| Lee | 2 |
| Alex | 3 |
| Dana | 3 |
| Lee | 3 |
+------+----------*/
-- ERROR: GQL doesn't allow chaining EXCEPT DISTINCT with UNION ALL
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name, 1 AS group_id
UNION ALL
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN 2 AS group_id, p.name
EXCEPT DISTINCT
MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN 3 AS group_id, p.name
Graph hints Note: Syntax wrapped in double quotes (""
) is required.
@"{" hint_key=hint_value "}"
Graph Query Language (GQL) supports hints, which make the query optimizer use a specific operator in the execution plan. If performance is an issue for you, a GQL hint might be able to help by suggesting a different query execution plan shape for your engine. Only one hint key and value are allowed per hint.
Details
You can add the following types of hints to a GQL query:
Hint type Description Join (graph traversal)A join hint that applies to graph traversal. A graph traversal is semantically equivalent to a join operation between any two tables.
You can use traversal hints in the following ways:
Traversal hints aren't allowed between two subpath patterns or between a subpath pattern and a node pattern.
Join (match statement)A join hint that applies to a MATCH
statement.
A table hint that applies to a graph element. You can use an element hint at the beginning of a pattern filler .
Examples
Note: The examples in this section reference a property graph calledFinGraph
.
Example of a traversal hint from one MATCH
statement to the next MATCH
statement:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person {id: 1})-[:Owns]->(a:Account)
MATCH @{JOIN_METHOD=APPLY_JOIN}(a:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(oa:Account)
RETURN oa.id
Example of a traversal hint between two path patterns:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH
(p:Person {id: 1})-[:Owns]->(a:Account), -- path pattern 1
@{JOIN_METHOD=HASH_JOIN, HASH_JOIN_BUILD_SIDE=BUILD_RIGHT} -- traversal hint
(a:Account)-[e:Transfers]->(c:Account) -- path pattern 2
RETURN c.id
Example of a traversal hint from an edge to a node in a path pattern:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person {id:1})-[e:Owns]->@{JOIN_METHOD=APPLY_JOIN}(a:Account)
RETURN a.id
Example of a traversal hint from a node to an edge in a path pattern:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (p:Person {id: 1})@{JOIN_METHOD=APPLY_JOIN}-[e:Owns]->(a:Account)
RETURN a.id
Example of a traversal hint between a graph subpath pattern and an edge pattern:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH
(p:Person {id: 1})-[e:Owns]->
@{JOIN_METHOD=APPLY_JOIN}
((a:Account)-[s:Transfers]->(oa:Account))
RETURN oa.id
Example of an element hint at the beginning of a pattern filler:
GRAPH FinGraph
MATCH (a:Account {id:7})-[@{INDEX_STRATEGY=FORCE_INDEX_UNION} :Transfers]-(oa:Account)
RETURN oa.id
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