The CREATE clause is used to create graph vertices and edges.

Terminal CREATE clauses

A CREATE clause that is not followed by another clause is called a terminal clause. When a cypher query ends with a terminal clause, no results will be returned from the cypher function call. However, the cypher function call still requires a column list definition. When cypher ends with a terminal node, define a single value in the column list definition: no data will be returned in this variable.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE /* Create clause here, no following clause */
$$) as (a agtype);

Create single vertex

Creating a single vertex is done by issuing the following query.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE (n)
$$) as (v agtype);

Nothing is returned from this query.

Create multiple vertices

Creating multiple vertices is done by separating them with a comma.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE (n), (m)
$$) as (v agtype);

Result

Create a vertex with a label

To add a label when creating a vertex, use the following syntax:

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE (:Person)
$$) as (v agtype);

Nothing is returned from this query.

Result

Create a vertex with labels and properties

You can create a vertex with labels and properties at the same time.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE (:Person {name: 'Andres', title: 'Developer'})
$$) as (n agtype);

Nothing is returned from this query.

Result

Return created node

You can create and return a node within the same query as follows:

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE (a {name: 'Andres'})
    RETURN a
$$) as (a agtype);

The newly-created node is returned.

Result

Create an edge between two nodes

To create an edge between two vertices, we first MATCH the two vertices. Once the nodes are matched, we create an edge between them.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    MATCH (a:Person), (b:Person)
    WHERE a.name = 'Node A' AND b.name = 'Node B'
    CREATE (a)-[e:RELTYPE]->(b)
    RETURN e
$$) as (e agtype);

The created edge is returned by the query.

Result

Create an edge and set properties

Setting properties on edges is done in a similar manner to setting properties when creating vertices. Note that the values can be any expression.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    MATCH (a:Person), (b:Person)
    WHERE a.name = 'Node A' AND b.name = 'Node B'
    CREATE (a)-[e:RELTYPE {name:a.name + '<->' + b.name}]->(b)
    RETURN e
$$) as (e agtype);

The newly-created edge is returned by the example query.

Result

Create a full path

When you use CREATE and a pattern, all parts of the patterns that are not already in scope at this time will be created.

Query

SELECT * 
FROM cypher('graph_name', $$
    CREATE p = (andres {name:'Andres'})-[:WORKS_AT]->(neo)<-[:WORKS_AT]-(michael {name:'Michael'})
    RETURN p
$$) as (p agtype);

This query creates three nodes and two relationships simultaneously, assigns the pattern to a path variable, and returns said pattern.

Result