Transaction commands

This page explains the SHOW TRANSACTIONS and TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS commands.

SHOW TRANSACTIONS

The SHOW TRANSACTIONS command is used to display running transactions within the instance. This also includes fabric transactions. For remote database aliases, transactions can be tracked by running SHOW TRANSACTIONS when connected to the remote database alias.

The command SHOW TRANSACTIONS returns only the default output. For a full output use the optional YIELD command. Full output: SHOW TRANSACTIONS YIELD *.

This command returns the following outputs:

Table 1. List transactions output
Column	Description	Type
`database`	The name of the database the transaction is executing against. Default Output	`STRING`
`transactionId`	The transaction ID. Default Output	`STRING`
`currentQueryId`	The ID of the query currently executing in this transaction, or an empty `STRING` if no query is currently executing. Default Output	`STRING`
`connectionId`	The ID of the database connection attached to the transaction or an empty `STRING` for embedded connections. Default Output	`STRING`
`clientAddress`	The client address of the connection issuing the transaction or an empty `STRING` if unavailable. Default Output	`STRING`
`username`	The username of the user executing the transaction. Default Output	`STRING`
`currentQuery`	The query text of the query currently executing in this transaction, or an empty `STRING` if no query is currently executing. Default Output	`STRING`
`startTime`	The time at which the transaction was started. Default Output	`STRING`
`status`	The current status of the transaction (`Terminated`, `Blocked`, `Closing`, or `Running`). Default Output	`STRING`
`elapsedTime`	The time that has elapsed since the transaction was started. Default Output	`DURATION`
`outerTransactionId`	The ID of this transaction’s outer transaction, if such exists, otherwise an empty `STRING`. For details, see `CALL { … } IN TRANSACTIONS`.	`STRING`
`metaData`	Any metadata associated with the transaction, or an empty map if there is none.	`MAP`
`parameters`	A map containing all the parameters used by the query currently executing in this transaction, or an empty map if no query is currently executing.	`MAP`
`planner`	The name of the Cypher planner used to plan the query currently executing in this transaction, or an empty `STRING` if no query is currently executing. For details, see Cypher planner.	`STRING`
`runtime`	The name of the Cypher runtime used by the query currently executing in this transaction, or an empty `STRING` if no query is currently executing. For details, see Cypher runtime.	`STRING`
`indexes`	The indexes utilised by the query currently executing in this transaction, or an empty list if no query is currently executing.	`LIST<MAP>`
`currentQueryStartTime`	The time at which the query currently executing in this transaction was started, or an empty `STRING` if no query is currently executing.	`STRING`
`protocol`	The protocol used by the connection issuing the transaction. This is not necessarily an internet protocol, such as http, etc., although it could be. It might also be "embedded", for example, if this connection represents an embedded session.	`STRING`
`requestUri`	The request URI used by the client connection issuing the transaction, or `null` if the URI is not available.	`STRING`
`currentQueryStatus`	The current status of the query currently executing in this transaction (`parsing`, `planning`, `planned`, `running`, or `waiting`), or an empty `STRING` if no query is currently executing.	`STRING`
`statusDetails`	Provide additional status details from the underlying transaction or an empty `STRING` if none is available.	`STRING`
`resourceInformation`	Information about any blocked transactions, or an empty map if there is none.	`MAP`
`activeLockCount`	Count of active locks held by the transaction.	`INTEGER`
`currentQueryActiveLockCount`	Count of active locks held by the query currently executing in this transaction.	`INTEGER`
`cpuTime`	CPU time that has been actively spent executing the transaction or `null` if unavailable.	`DURATION`
`waitTime`	Wait time that has been spent waiting to acquire locks.	`DURATION`
`idleTime`	Idle time for this transaction, or `null` if unavailable.	`DURATION`
`currentQueryElapsedTime`	The time that has elapsed since the query currently executing in this transaction was started, or `null` if no query is currently executing.	`DURATION`
`currentQueryCpuTime`	CPU time that has been actively spent executing the query currently executing in this transaction, or `null` if unavailable or no query is currently executing.	`DURATION`
`currentQueryWaitTime`	Wait time that has been spent waiting to acquire locks for the query currently executing in this transaction, or `null` if no query is currently executing.	`DURATION`
`currentQueryIdleTime`	Idle time for the query currently executing in this transaction, or `null` if unavailable or no query is currently executing.	`DURATION`
`currentQueryAllocatedBytes`	The number of bytes allocated on the heap so far by the query currently executing in this transaction, or `null` if unavailable or no query is currently executing.	`INTEGER`
`allocatedDirectBytes`	Amount of off-heap (native) memory allocated by the transaction in bytes or `null` if unavailable.	`INTEGER`
`estimatedUsedHeapMemory`	The estimated amount of used heap memory allocated by the transaction in bytes or `null` if unavailable.	`INTEGER`
`pageHits`	The total number of page cache hits that the transaction performed.	`INTEGER`
`pageFaults`	The total number of page cache faults that the transaction performed.	`INTEGER`
`currentQueryPageHits`	The total number of page cache hits that the query currently executing in this transaction performed.	`INTEGER`
`currentQueryPageFaults`	The total number of page cache faults that the query currently executing in this transaction performed.	`INTEGER`
`initializationStackTrace`	The initialization stacktrace for this transaction, or an empty `STRING` if unavailable.	`STRING`

The SHOW TRANSACTIONS command can be combined with multiple SHOW TRANSACTIONS and TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS, see transaction commands combination.

Syntax

More details about the syntax descriptions can be found here.

List transactions on the current server

SHOW TRANSACTION[S] [transaction-id[,...]]
[YIELD { * | field[, ...] } [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]
[WHERE expression]
[RETURN field[, ...] [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]

The format of transaction-id is <databaseName>-transaction-<id>. Transaction IDs must be supplied as one or more comma-separated quoted STRING values, or as an expression resolving to a STRING or a LIST<STRING>.

When using the RETURN clause, the YIELD clause is mandatory and must not be omitted.

A user with the SHOW TRANSACTION privilege can view the currently executing transactions in accordance with the privilege grants. All users may view all of their own currently executing transactions.

Listing all transactions

To list all available transactions with the default outputs, use the SHOW TRANSACTIONS command. If all outputs are required, use SHOW TRANSACTIONS YIELD *.

Query

SHOW TRANSACTIONS

Table 2. Result
database	transactionId	currentQueryId	connectionId	clientAddress	username	currentQuery	startTime	status	elapsedTime
`"neo4j"`	`"neo4j-transaction-6"`	`"query-664"`	`""`	`""`	`""`	`"SHOW TRANSACTIONS"`	`"2022-06-14T10:02:45.568Z"`	`"Running"`	`PT0.038S`
`"neo4j"`	`"neo4j-transaction-4"`	`"query-663"`	`""`	`""`	`""`	`"MATCH (n) RETURN n"`	`"2022-06-14T10:02:45.546Z"`	`"Running"`	`PT0.06S`
Rows: 2

Listing transactions with filtering on output

The listed transactions can be filtered by using the WHERE clause. For example, getting the databases for all transactions where the currently executing query contains 'Mark':

Query

SHOW TRANSACTIONS YIELD database, currentQuery WHERE currentQuery contains 'Mark'

Table 3. Result
database	currentQuery
`"neo4j"`	`"MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.name='Mark' RETURN p"`
`"neo4j"`	`"SHOW TRANSACTIONS YIELD database, currentQuery WHERE currentQuery contains 'Mark'"`
Rows: 2

Several of the outputs have the duration type, which can be hard to read. They can instead be returned in a more readable format:

Query

SHOW TRANSACTIONS
YIELD transactionId, elapsedTime, cpuTime, waitTime, idleTime,
  currentQueryElapsedTime, currentQueryCpuTime, currentQueryWaitTime, currentQueryIdleTime
RETURN
  transactionId AS txId,
  elapsedTime.milliseconds AS elapsedTimeMillis,
  cpuTime.milliseconds AS cpuTimeMillis,
  waitTime.milliseconds AS waitTimeMillis,
  idleTime.seconds AS idleTimeSeconds,
  currentQueryElapsedTime.milliseconds AS currentQueryElapsedTimeMillis,
  currentQueryCpuTime.milliseconds AS currentQueryCpuTimeMillis,
  currentQueryWaitTime.microseconds AS currentQueryWaitTimeMicros,
  currentQueryIdleTime.seconds AS currentQueryIdleTimeSeconds

Table 4. Result
txId	elapsedTimeMillis	cpuTimeMillis	waitTimeMillis	idleTimeSeconds	currentQueryElapsedTimeMillis	currentQueryCpuTimeMillis	currentQueryWaitTimeMicros	currentQueryIdleTimeSeconds
`"neo4j-transaction-5"`	`1055`	`767`	`0`	`0`	`1012`	`767`	`0`	`0`
`"neo4j-transaction-9"`	`156`	`155`	`0`	`0`	`97`	`97`	`0`	`0`
`"neo4j-transaction-4"`	`1082`	`17`	`0`	`1`	`1013`	`17`	`0`	`0`
Rows: 3

Listing specific transactions

It is possible to specify which transactions to return in the list by transaction ID.

Query

SHOW TRANSACTIONS "neo4j-transaction-3"

Table 5. Result
database	transactionId	currentQueryId	connectionId	clientAddress	username	currentQuery	startTime	status	elapsedTime
`"neo4j"`	`"neo4j-transaction-3"`	`"query-1"`	`""`	`""`	`""`	`"MATCH (n) RETURN n"`	`"2021-10-20T08:29:39.423Z"`	`"Running"`	`PT2.603S`
Rows: 1

TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS

The TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS command is used to terminate running transactions by their IDs.

The outputs for the TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS command there is no difference between the default output and full output (YIELD *), all outputs are default.

This command returns the following outputs:

Table 6. Terminate transactions output
Column	Description	Type
`transactionId`	The transaction ID.	`STRING`
`username`	The username of the user executing the transaction.	`STRING`
`message`	The result of the `TERMINATE TRANSACTION` command as applied to this transaction.	`STRING`

The TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS command can be combined with multiple SHOW TRANSACTIONS and TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS, see transaction commands combination.

Syntax

More details about the syntax descriptions can be found here.

Terminate transactions by ID on the current server

TERMINATE TRANSACTION[S] transaction_id[, ...]
[YIELD { * \| field[, ...] }
  [ORDER BY field[, ...]]
  [SKIP n]
  [LIMIT n]
  [WHERE expression]
  [RETURN field[, ...] [ORDER BY field[, ...]] [SKIP n] [LIMIT n]]
]

When using the WHERE or RETURN clauses, the YIELD clause is mandatory and must not be omitted.

A user with the TERMINATE TRANSACTION privilege can terminate transactions in accordance with the privilege grants. All users may terminate their own currently executing transactions.

Terminate transactions

To end running transactions without waiting for them to complete on their own, use the TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS command.

Query

TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS "neo4j-transaction-1","neo4j-transaction-2"

Table 7. Result
transactionId	username	message
`"neo4j-transaction-1"`	`"neo4j"`	`"Transaction terminated."`
`"neo4j-transaction-2"`	`null`	`"Transaction not found."`
Rows: 2

Terminate transactions with filtering on output

The output from the TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS command can be filtered using the YIELD and WHERE clauses.

Example 1. TERMINATE TRANSACTION YIELD

For example, returning the transaction IDs and message for the transactions that did not terminate.

Query

TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS "neo4j-transaction-1","neo4j-transaction-2"
YIELD transactionId, message
WHERE message <> "Transaction terminated."

Table 8. Result
transactionId	message
`"neo4j-transaction-2"`	`"Transaction not found."`
Rows: 1

Example 2. TERMINATE TRANSACTION error

In difference to SHOW TRANSACTIONS; the TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS does not allow WHERE without YIELD.

Query

TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS "neo4j-transaction-1","neo4j-transaction-2"
WHERE message <> "Transaction terminated."

Error message

`WHERE` is not allowed by itself, please use `TERMINATE TRANSACTION ... YIELD ... WHERE ...`

Combining transaction commands

In difference to other show commands, the SHOW and TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS commands can be combined in the same query.

When combining multiple commands the YIELD and RETURN clauses are mandatory and must not be omitted. In addition, YIELD * is not permitted. Instead, the YIELD clause needs to explicitly list the yielded columns.

At this point in time, no other cypher clauses are allowed to be combined with the transaction commands.

Terminating all transactions by a given user

To terminate all transactions by a user, first find the transactions using SHOW TRANSACTIONS, then pass them onto TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS.

Example 3. TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS

Query

SHOW TRANSACTIONS
YIELD transactionId AS txId, username AS user
WHERE user = "Alice"
TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS txId
YIELD message
RETURN txId, message

Table 9. Result
txId	message
`"neo4j-transaction-1"`	`"Transaction terminated."`
`"neo4j-transaction-2"`	`"Transaction terminated."`
Rows: 2

Terminating starving transactions

To terminate transactions that have been waiting for more than 30 minutes, first find the transactions using SHOW TRANSACTIONS, then pass them onto TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS.

Example 4. TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS

The following example shows a transaction that has been waiting for 40 minutes.

Query

SHOW TRANSACTIONS
YIELD transactionId, waitTime
WHERE waitTime > duration({minutes: 30})
TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS transactionId
YIELD username, message
RETURN *

Table 10. Result
transactionId	waitTime	username	message
`"neo4j-transaction-1"`	`PT40M`	`"Alice"`	`"Transaction terminated."`
Rows: 1

Listing other transactions by the same user that were terminated

To list remaining transactions by users whose transactions were terminated, first terminate the transactions using TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS, then filter users through SHOW TRANSACTIONS.

Example 5. TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS

Query

TERMINATE TRANSACTION 'neo4j-transaction-1', 'neo4j-transaction-2'
YIELD username AS terminatedUser
SHOW TRANSACTIONS
YIELD username AS showUser, transactionId AS txId, database, currentQuery, status
WHERE showUser = terminatedUser AND NOT status STARTS WITH 'Terminated'
RETURN txId, showUser AS user, database, currentQuery

Table 11. Result
txId	user	database	currentQuery
`"neo4j-transaction-3"`	`"Alice"`	`"neo4j"`	`"MATCH (n) RETURN n"`
`"mydb-transaction-1"`	`"Bob"`	`"mydb"`	`"MATCH (n:Label) SET n.prop=false"`
`"system-transaction-999"`	`"Bob"`	`"system"`	`"SHOW DATABASES"`
Rows: 2

Listing other transactions by the same user as a given transaction

To list other transactions by the same user as a given transaction, first find the transactions using SHOW TRANSACTIONS, then filter users through a second SHOW TRANSACTIONS.

Example 6. SHOW TRANSACTIONS

Query

SHOW TRANSACTION 'neo4j-transaction-1'
YIELD username AS originalUser, transactionId AS originalTxId
SHOW TRANSACTIONS
YIELD username AS newUser, transactionId AS txId, database, currentQuery, status
WHERE newUser = originalUser AND NOT txId = originalTxId
RETURN txId, newUser AS user, database, currentQuery, status

Table 12. Result
txId	user	database	currentQuery	status
`"mydb-transaction-1"`	`"Bob"`	`"mydb"`	`"MATCH (n:Label) SET n.prop=false"`	`"Running"`
`"system-transaction-999"`	`"Bob"`	`"system"`	`"SHOW DATABASES"`	`"Running"`
Rows: 2