Read After Update

Return Modified Records

RETURN statements following an update clause has access to the variables that are used in the immediately preceding update clause.

For CREATE, the data available to the immediately following RETURN is the newly inserted node/relationship.

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

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

For SET, the data available to RETURN is the updated value.

MATCH (u:User) WHERE u.name = "Adam"
SET u.name = "Aisha" RETURN u.*;

┌────────┬───────┐
│ u.name │ u.age │
│ STRING │ INT64 │
├────────┼───────┤
│ Aisha  │ 30    │
└────────┴───────┘

For DELETE, the data available to RETURN is the deleted node/relationship record.

MATCH (u:User) WHERE u.name = 'Adam'
DETACH DELETE u RETURN u.*;

┌────────┬───────┐
│ u.name │ u.age │
│ STRING │ INT64 │
├────────┼───────┤
│ Adam   │ 30    │
└────────┴───────┘