12.4. Delete

The DELETE clause is used to delete graph elements — nodes and relationships.

For removing properties and labels, see Section 12.5, “Remove”.

The examples start out with the following database:

cypher-delete-graph.svg

Delete single node

To delete a node, use the DELETE clause.

Query  

MATCH (n:Useless)
DELETE n
 

Nothing is returned from this query, except the count of affected nodes.

Result

Nodes deleted: 1

(empty result)

Try this query live create (_0 {`age`:25, `name`:"Tobias"}) create (_1 {`age`:34, `name`:"Peter"}) create (_2 {`age`:36, `name`:"Andres"}) create (_3:`Useless`) create _2-[:`KNOWS`]->_1 create _2-[:`KNOWS`]->_0 match (n:Useless) delete n

Delete a node and connected relationships

If you are trying to delete a node with relationships on it, you have to delete these as well.

Query  

MATCH (n { name: 'Andres' })-[r]-()
DELETE n, r
 

Nothing is returned from this query, except the count of affected nodes.

Result

Nodes deleted: 1
Relationships deleted: 2

(empty result)

Try this query live create (_0 {`age`:25, `name`:"Tobias"}) create (_1 {`age`:34, `name`:"Peter"}) create (_2 {`age`:36, `name`:"Andres"}) create _2-[:`KNOWS`]->_1 create _2-[:`KNOWS`]->_0 match (n {name: 'Andres'})-[r]-() delete n, r

Delete all nodes and relationships

This query isn’t for deleting large amounts of data, but is nice when playing around with small example data sets.

Query  

MATCH (n)
OPTIONAL MATCH (n)-[r]-()
DELETE n,r
 

Nothing is returned from this query, except the count of affected nodes.

Result

Nodes deleted: 3
Relationships deleted: 2

(empty result)

Try this query live create (_0 {`age`:25, `name`:"Tobias"}) create (_1 {`age`:34, `name`:"Peter"}) create (_2 {`age`:36, `name`:"Andres"}) create _2-[:`KNOWS`]->_1 create _2-[:`KNOWS`]->_0 MATCH (n) OPTIONAL MATCH (n)-[r]-() DELETE n,r