DELETE
The
DELETE
clause is used to delete nodes, relationships or paths.
1. Introduction
For removing properties and labels, see REMOVE.
Remember that you cannot delete a node without also deleting relationships that start or end on said node.
Either explicitly delete the relationships, or use DETACH DELETE
.
The examples start out with the following database:
2. Delete single node
To delete a node, use the DELETE
clause.
MATCH (n:Person {name: 'UNKNOWN'})
DELETE n
|
0 rows, Nodes deleted: 1 |
3. Delete all nodes and relationships
This query isn’t for deleting large amounts of data, but is useful when experimenting with small example data sets.
MATCH (n)
DETACH DELETE n
|
0 rows, Nodes deleted: 4 |
4. Delete a node with all its relationships
When you want to delete a node and any relationship going to or from it, use DETACH DELETE
.
MATCH (n {name: 'Andy'})
DETACH DELETE n
|
0 rows, Nodes deleted: 1 |
For |
5. Delete relationships only
It is also possible to delete relationships only, leaving the node(s) otherwise unaffected.
MATCH (n {name: 'Andy'})-[r:KNOWS]->()
DELETE r
This deletes all outgoing KNOWS
relationships from the node with the name 'Andy'.
|
0 rows, Relationships deleted: 2 |
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