Cypher Shell

About Cypher Shell CLI

Cypher Shell is a command-line tool that comes with the Neo4j distribution. It can also be downloaded from Neo4j Download Center and installed separately.

Cypher Shell CLI is used to run queries and perform administrative tasks against a Neo4j instance. By default, the shell is interactive, but you can also use it for scripting, by passing cypher directly on the command line or by piping a file with cypher statements (requires PowerShell on Windows). It communicates via the Bolt protocol.

Syntax

The Cypher Shell CLI is located in the bin directory if installed as part of the product.

Syntax:

cypher-shell  [-h, --help]
              [-a ADDRESS, --address ADDRESS, --uri ADDRESS]
              [-u USERNAME, --username USERNAME]
              [-p PASSWORD, --password PASSWORD]
              [--encryption {true,false,default}]
              [-d DATABASE, --database DATABASE]
              [--impersonate IMPERSONATE]
              [--format {auto,verbose,plain}]
              [-P PARAM, --param PARAM]
              [--debug]
              [--non-interactive]
              [--sample-rows SAMPLE-ROWS]
              [--wrap {true,false}]
              [-v, --version]
              [--driver-version]
              [-f FILE, --file FILE]
              [--change-password]
              [--fail-fast]
              [--fail-at-end]
              [--log [LOG-FILE]]
              [cypher]

Arguments:

Argument Type Description Default value

-h

--help

Optional argument

Show help message and exit.

-a ADDRESS

--address ADDRESS

--uri ADDRESS

Connection argument

Address and port to connect to. It can also be specified by the environment variable NEO4J_ADDRESS or NEO4J_URI.

neo4j://localhost:7687

-u USERNAME

--username USERNAME

Connection argument

Username to connect as. It can also be specified by the environment variable NEO4J_USERNAME.

-p PASSWORD

--password PASSWORD

Connection argument

Password to connect with. It can also be specified by the environment variable NEO4J_PASSWORD.

--encryption {true,false,default}

Connection argument

Whether the connection to Neo4j should be encrypted; must be consistent with Neo4j’s configuration.

default

The encryption setting is deduced from the specified address. For example, the neo4j+ssc protocol would use encryption.

-d DATABASE

--database DATABASE

Connection argument

Database to connect to. It can also be specified by the environment variable NEO4J_DATABASE.

--format {auto,verbose,plain}

Optional argument

Desired output format.

auto (default): displays results in tabular format if you use the shell interactively and with minimal formatting if you use it for scripting.

verbose: displays results in tabular format and prints statistics.

plain: displays data with minimal formatting.

--impersonate USER-TO-IMPERSONATE

Connection argument

Impersonate the specified user.

No impersonation

--P PARAM

--param PARAM

Optional argument

Add a parameter to this session. For example, -P "number ⇒ 3" or -P "country ⇒ 'Spain'". This argument can be specified multiple times.

--debug

Optional argument

Print additional debug information.

false

--non-interactive

Optional argument

Force non-interactive mode; only useful if auto-detection fails (e.g. Windows).

false

--sample-rows SAMPLE-ROWS

Optional argument

Number of rows sampled to compute table widths (only for format=VERBOSE).

1000

--wrap {true,false}

Optional argument

Wrap table column values if column is too narrow (only for format=VERBOSE).

true

-v

--version

Optional argument

Print version of cypher-shell and exit.

false

--driver-version

Optional argument

Print version of the Neo4j Driver used and exit.

false

-f FILE

--file FILE

Optional argument

Pass a file with cypher statements to be executed. After the statements have been executed cypher-shell shuts down.

--change-password

Optional argument

Change Neo4j user password and exit

false

--fail-fast

Optional argument

Exit and report failure on first error when reading from file.

This is the default behavior.

--fail-at-end

Optional argument

Exit and report failures at end of input when reading from file.

--log [LOG-FILE]

Optional argument

Enables logging to the specified file, or stderr if the file is omitted.

cypher

Positional argument

An optional string of cypher to execute and then exit.

Running Cypher Shell within the Neo4j distribution

You can connect to a live Neo4j DBMS by running cypher-shell and passing in a username and a password argument:

bin/cypher-shell -u neo4j -p <password>

The output is the following:

Connected to Neo4j at neo4j://localhost:7687 as user neo4j.
Type :help for a list of available commands or :exit to exit the shell.
Note that Cypher queries must end with a semicolon.

Running Cypher Shell from a different server

You can also install the Cypher Shell tool on a different server (without Neo4j) and connect to a Neo4j DBMS. Cypher Shell requires a JDK and Java 11.

DEB/RPM distributions both install OpenJDK if it is not already installed. The cypher-shell files are available in the same DEB/RPM Linux repositories as Neo4j.

The TAR distribution contains only the cypher-shell files, so you must install the JDK manually.

  1. Download Cypher Shell from Neo4j Download Center.

  2. Connect to a Neo4j DBMS by running the cypher-shell command providing the Neo4j address, a username, and a password:

    cypher-shell/cypher-shell -a neo4j://IP-address:7687 -u neo4j -p <password>

    The output is the following:

    Connected to Neo4j at neo4j://IP-address:7687 as user neo4j.
Type :help for a list of available commands or :exit to exit the shell.
Note that Cypher queries must end with a semicolon.

Available commands

Once in the interactive shell, run the following command to display all available commands:

Example 1. Running help
:help

The output is the following:

Available commands:
  *:begin*       Open a transaction
  *:commit*      Commit the currently open transaction
  *:connect*     Connects to a database
  *:disconnect*  Disconnects from database
  *:exit*        Exit the logger
  *:help*        Show this help message
  *:history*     Statement history
  *:impersonate* Impersonate user
  *:param*       Set the value of a query parameter
  *:params*      Print all query parameter values
  *:rollback*    Rollback the currently open transaction
  *:source*      Executes Cypher statements from a file
  *:use*         Set the active database

For help on a specific command type:
    :help *command*

Keyboard shortcuts:
    Up and down arrows to access statement history.
    Tab for autocompletion of commands, hit twice to select suggestion from list using arrow keys.

Running Cypher statements

You can run Cypher statements in the following ways:

  • Typing Cypher statements directly into the interactive shell.

  • Running Cypher statements from a file with the interactive shell.

  • Running Cypher statements from a file as a cypher-shell argument.

The examples in this section use the MATCH (n) RETURN n LIMIT 5 Cypher statement and will return 5 nodes from the database.

Example 2. Typing a Cypher statement directly into the interactive shell
MATCH (n) RETURN n LIMIT 5;

The following two examples assume a file exists in the same folder you run the cypher-shell command from called example.cypher with the following contents:

MATCH (n) RETURN n LIMIT 5;
Example 3. Running Cypher statements from a file with the interactive shell

You can use the :source command followed by the file name to run the Cypher statements in that file when in the Cypher interactive shell:

:source example.cypher
Example 4. Running Cypher statements from a file as a cypher-shell argument.

You can pass a file containing Cypher statements as an argument when running cypher-shell.

The examples here use the --format plain flag for a simple output.

Using cat (UNIX)

cat example.cypher | bin/cypher-shell -u neo4j -p <password> --format plain

Using type (Windows)

type example.cypher | bin/cypher-shell.bat -u neo4j -p <password> --format plain

Query parameters

Cypher Shell CLI supports querying based on parameters. This is often used while scripting.

Example 5. Use parameters within Cypher Shell

  1. Set the parameter thisAlias to Robin using the :param keyword:

    :param thisAlias => 'Robin'

  2. Check the parameter using the :params keyword:

    :params
    :param thisAlias => 'Robin'

  3. Now use the parameter thisAlias in a Cypher query:

    CREATE (:Person {name : 'Dick Grayson', alias : $thisAlias });
    Added 1 nodes, Set 2 properties, Added 1 labels

  4. Verify the result:

    MATCH (n) RETURN n;
    +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| n                                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| (:Person {name: "Bruce Wayne", alias: "Batman"})                |
| (:Person {name: "Selina Kyle", alias: ["Catwoman", "The Cat"]}) |
| (:Person {name: "Dick Grayson", alias: "Robin"})                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
3 rows available after 2 ms, consumed after another 2 ms

Transactions

Cypher Shell supports explicit and implicit transactions. Transaction states are controlled using the keywords :begin, :commit, and :rollback.

Both explicit and implicit transactions run from Cypher Shell will have default transaction metadata attached that follows the convention (see Attach metadata to a transaction).

Example 6. Use fine-grained transaction control

The example uses the dataset from the built-in Neo4j Browser guide, called MovieGraph. For more information, see the Neo4j Browser documentation.

  1. Run a query that shows there is only one person in the database, who is born in 1964.

    MATCH (n:Person) WHERE n.born=1964 RETURN n.name AS name;
    +----------------+
| name           |
+----------------+
| "Keanu Reeves" |
+----------------+

1 row
ready to start consuming query after 9 ms, results consumed after another 0 ms

  2. Start a transaction and create another person born in the same year:

    :begin
neo4j# CREATE (:Person {name : 'Edward Mygma', born:1964});
    0 rows
ready to start consuming query after 38 ms, results consumed after another 0 ms
Added 1 nodes, Set 2 properties, Added 1 labels

  3. If you open a second Cypher Shell session and run the query from step 1, you will notice no changes from the latest CREATE statement.

    MATCH (n:Person) WHERE n.born=1964 RETURN n.name AS name;
    +----------------+
| name           |
+----------------+
| "Keanu Reeves" |
+----------------+

1 row
ready to start consuming query after 9 ms, results consumed after another 0 ms

  4. Go back to the first session and commit the transaction.

    neo4j# :commit

  5. Now, if you run the query from step 1, you will see that Edward Mygma has been added to the database.

    MATCH (n:Person) WHERE n.born=1964 RETURN n.name AS name;
    +----------------+
| name           |
+----------------+
| "Keanu Reeves" |
| "Edward Mygma" |
+----------------+

2 rows
ready to start consuming query after 1 ms, results consumed after another 1 ms

Procedures

Cypher Shell supports running any procedures for which the current user is authorized.

Example 7. Call the dbms.showCurrentUser procedure
CALL dbms.showCurrentUser();
+------------------------------+
| username | roles     | flags |
+------------------------------+
| "neo4j"  | ["admin"] | []    |
+------------------------------+

1 row available after 66 ms, consumed after another 2 ms

Supported operating systems

You can use the Cypher Shell CLI via cmd on Windows systems, and bash on Unix systems.

Other shells may work as intended, but there is no test coverage to guarantee compatibility.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard commands are available in interactive mode.

Key Operation

↑ and ↓ (arrow keys)

Access statement history.

↹ (tab)

Autocompletion of commands and Cypher syntax. Suggestions for Cypher syntax is not complete.