apoc.refactor.setType

Details
Syntax	`apoc.refactor.setType(rel, newType) :: (input, output, error)`
Description	Changes the type of the given `RELATIONSHIP`.
Input arguments	Name	Type	Description
	`rel`	`RELATIONSHIP`	The relationship to change the type of.
	`newType`	`STRING`	The new type for the relationship.
Return arguments	Name	Type	Description
	`input`	`INTEGER`	The id of the given relationship.
	`output`	`RELATIONSHIP`	The id of the new relationship with the updated type.
	`error`	`STRING`	The message if an error occurred.

Refactoring nodes using Cypher

Node labels and relationship types can be referenced dynamically in Cypher without using APOC.

Cypher syntax for creating, matching and merging labels and types dynamically

CREATE (n1:$(label))-[r:$(type)]->(n2:$(label))
MERGE (n1:$(label))-[r:$(type)]->(n2:$(label))
MATCH (n1:$(label))-[r:$(type)]->(n2:$(label))

The dynamically calculated type must evaluate to a STRING or LIST<STRING>. For more information, see the Cypher Manual → CREATE, MERGE, MATCH.

The examples in this section are based on the following graph:

CREATE (f:Foo)-[rel:FOOBAR]->(b:Bar);

The following queries change the relationship type from FOOBAR to NEW-TYPE using APOC and Cypher:

apoc.refactor.setType

MATCH (f:Foo)-[rel:FOOBAR]->(b:Bar)
CALL apoc.refactor.setType(rel, 'NEW-TYPE')
YIELD input, output
RETURN input, output;

Using Cypher

MATCH (f:Foo)-[rel:FOOBAR]->(b:Bar)
CREATE (f)-[r:`NEW-TYPE`]->(b)
SET r = properties(rel)
DELETE rel
RETURN id(r), type(r)

If we execute this query, it will result in the following output:

Results
input	output
30	[:`NEW-TYPE`]

And the graph now looks like this:

APOC is not inverting the type; instead, it adds a new relationship with the desired direction and deletes the original.