Delete

The DELETE clause deletes node or relationship records from the table.

We will use the example database for demonstration, whose schema and data import commands are given here.

Delete nodes

Delete single label nodes

The following statements first create a User (Alice, 35) node record, without inserting any relationships to that node record, and then delete the record.

CREATE (u:User {name: 'Alice', age: 35});
MATCH (u:User) WHERE u.name = 'Alice'
DELETE u
RETURN u.*;

┌────────┬───────┐
│ u.name │ u.age │
│ STRING │ INT64 │
├────────┼───────┤
│ Alice  │ 35    │
└────────┴───────┘

Delete multi label nodes

The following statements first create a user node and a city node both with the name “A” and then delete them.

CREATE (:User {name: 'A'}), (:City {name: 'A'});

MATCH (u)
WHERE u.name = 'A'
DELETE u
RETURN u.*;

┌────────┬───────┬──────────────┐
│ u.name │ u.age │ u.population │
│ STRING │ INT64 │ INT64        │
├────────┼───────┼──────────────┤
│ A      │       │              │
│ A      │       │              │
└────────┴───────┴──────────────┘

Detach delete

DELETE can only delete nodes that do not have any relationships. To delete a node and all of its relationships with a single clause, use DETACH DELETE.

MATCH ()-[e]->() RETURN COUNT(e) AS num_rels;

┌──────────┐
│ num_rels │
│ INT64    │
├──────────┤
│ 8        │
└──────────┘

MATCH (u:User) WHERE u.name = 'Adam' DETACH DELETE u;
MATCH ()-[]->() RETURN COUNT(*) AS num_rels;

┌──────────┐
│ num_rels │
│ INT64    │
├──────────┤
│ 5        │
└──────────┘

For example, to delete every record in the database, you can do the following:

MATCH (n) DETACH DELETE n;

Delete relationships

Delete single label relationships

The following query deletes the Follows relationship between Adam and Karissa:

MATCH (u:User)-[f:Follows]->(u1:User)
WHERE u.name = 'Adam' AND u1.name = 'Karissa'
DELETE f;

Delete multi label relationships

The following query deletes all out-going edges from “Karissa”.

MATCH (u:User)-[f]->(u1)
WHERE u.name = 'Karissa'
RETURN u.name, u1.name;

┌─────────┬──────────┐
│ u.name  │ u1.name  │
│ STRING  │ STRING   │
├─────────┼──────────┤
│ Karissa │ Waterloo │
│ Karissa │ Zhang    │
└─────────┴──────────┘

MATCH (u:User)-[f]->(u1)
WHERE u.name = 'Karissa'
DELETE f;

MATCH (u:User)-[f]->(u1)
WHERE u.name = 'Karissa'
RETURN u.name, u1.name;

┌────────┬─────────┐
│ u.name │ u1.name │
│ STRING │ STRING  │
├────────┼─────────┤
└────────┴─────────┘