Cypher Basics

Query Structure

MATCH	Find patterns in the graph
WHERE	Filter results
RETURN	Specify output columns
CREATE	Create nodes and relationships
SET / REMOVE	Update properties and labels
DELETE / DETACH DELETE	Remove nodes and relationships

Running Queries

// Neo4j Browser: paste and run with Ctrl+Enter
// cypher-shell:
cypher-shell -u neo4j -p secret "MATCH (n) RETURN n LIMIT 5"

Nodes & Labels

Node Syntax

(n)                    // anonymous node
(p:Person)             // node with label
(p:Person:Employee)    // multiple labels
(p:Person {name: "Alice", age: 30})

Label Operations

SET n:Active           // add label
REMOVE n:Active        // remove label
MATCH (n) RETURN labels(n)  // list labels

Constraints & Indexes

CREATE CONSTRAINT FOR (p:Person)
  REQUIRE p.email IS UNIQUE
CREATE INDEX FOR (p:Person) ON (p.name)
SHOW INDEXES

Relationships

Relationship Syntax

-[r]->                 // directed (outgoing)
<-[r]-                 // directed (incoming)
-[r]-                  // undirected
-[:KNOWS]->            // typed relationship
-[r:KNOWS {since: 2020}]->  // with properties

Variable-Length Paths

-[:KNOWS*2]->          // exactly 2 hops
-[:KNOWS*1..3]->       // 1 to 3 hops
-[:KNOWS*]->           // any number of hops
shortestPath((a)-[*]-(b))  // shortest path

CREATE

Create Nodes

CREATE (p:Person {name: "Alice", age: 30})
CREATE (p:Person {name: "Bob"})
RETURN p

Create Relationships

MATCH (a:Person {name: "Alice"})
MATCH (b:Person {name: "Bob"})
CREATE (a)-[:KNOWS {since: 2020}]->(b)

MERGE (Upsert)

MERGE (p:Person {email: "alice@example.com"})
ON CREATE SET p.name = "Alice", p.created = date()
ON MATCH SET p.lastSeen = date()

MATCH

Basic Patterns

MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p
MATCH (p:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(f) RETURN p, f
MATCH (a)-[r]->(b) RETURN type(r), a, b

OPTIONAL MATCH

// Returns null for missing matches (like LEFT JOIN)
MATCH (p:Person)
OPTIONAL MATCH (p)-[:OWNS]->(c:Car)
RETURN p.name, c.model

Pattern Comprehension

MATCH (p:Person)
RETURN p.name,
  [(p)-[:KNOWS]->(f) | f.name] AS friends

WHERE

Comparison & Logic

WHERE p.age > 25
WHERE p.age >= 18 AND p.active = true
WHERE p.name <> "Bob" OR p.role = "admin"
WHERE NOT (p)-[:BLOCKED]->()

String & List Predicates

WHERE p.name STARTS WITH "Al"
WHERE p.name CONTAINS "ice"
WHERE p.name =~ "(?i)alice.*"   // regex
WHERE p.age IN [25, 30, 35]

Null & Existence Checks

WHERE p.email IS NOT NULL
WHERE p.phone IS NULL
WHERE EXISTS { (p)-[:KNOWS]->(:Person) }

RETURN

Output Options

RETURN p.name AS name, p.age AS age
RETURN DISTINCT p.city
RETURN p, collect(f) AS friends
RETURN count(*) AS total

Ordering & Pagination

RETURN p.name ORDER BY p.age DESC
RETURN p SKIP 10 LIMIT 5

UNWIND

// Expand a list into rows
UNWIND [1, 2, 3] AS x RETURN x
UNWIND $names AS name
MERGE (p:Person {name: name})

UPDATE & DELETE

SET Properties

MATCH (p:Person {name: "Alice"})
SET p.age = 31, p.updated = date()
SET p += {city: "NYC", active: true}

REMOVE

MATCH (p:Person {name: "Alice"})
REMOVE p.temp_field     // remove property
REMOVE p:Inactive       // remove label

DELETE

MATCH (p:Person {name: "Bob"})
DETACH DELETE p          // delete node + all rels
// DELETE p              // fails if node has rels
MATCH ()-[r:OLD_REL]->() DELETE r  // delete rel

Aggregation

Aggregate Functions

count(x)	Number of non-null values
sum(x)	Sum of numeric values
avg(x)	Average of numeric values
min(x) / max(x)	Minimum / maximum value
collect(x)	Aggregate values into a list
percentileCont(x, 0.5)	Continuous percentile

GROUP BY (Implicit)

// Non-aggregated columns become grouping keys
MATCH (p:Person)-[:LIVES_IN]->(c:City)
RETURN c.name, count(p) AS population
ORDER BY population DESC

WITH (Chained Aggregation)

MATCH (p:Person)-[:KNOWS]->(f)
WITH p, count(f) AS friendCount
WHERE friendCount > 5
RETURN p.name, friendCount

Common Patterns

Find Mutual Friends

MATCH (a:Person {name:"Alice"})-[:KNOWS]->(m)<-[:KNOWS]-(b:Person {name:"Bob"})
RETURN m.name AS mutualFriend

Recommendation (Friends of Friends)

MATCH (p:Person {name:"Alice"})-[:KNOWS*2]-(fof)
WHERE NOT (p)-[:KNOWS]-(fof) AND p <> fof
RETURN DISTINCT fof.name

Import CSV Data

LOAD CSV WITH HEADERS FROM 'file:///people.csv' AS row
MERGE (p:Person {id: row.id})
SET p.name = row.name, p.age = toInteger(row.age)

Database Info

CALL db.labels()        // list all labels
CALL db.relationshipTypes()  // list rel types
CALL db.schema.visualization()

NEO4J / CYPHER QUICK REFERENCE