Migrating from Neo4J to SurrealDB

This mapping guide focuses on the syntax that most closely resembles the Cypher query language.

To automatically migrate Neo4J data to SurrealDB, see the Neo4J page for the Surreal Sync tool.

Concept mapping

Syntax mapping

The following shows some CRUD examples using SurrealQL syntax.

Create

As Neo4j is schemaless, only the SurrealQL schemaless approach is shown below. For a schemafull option see the DEFINE TABLE page.

For more SurrealQL examples, see the CREATE, INSERT and RELATE pages.

Simple create/insert operations:

// Cypher
CREATE (John:Person {name:‘John’}), (Jane:Person {name: ‘Jane’})

// SurrealQL
// Table implicitly created if it doesn't exist
INSERT INTO person [ {id: “John”, name: “John”}, {id: “Jane”, name: “Jane”} ]

Graph relations via the RELATE statement:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person {name:‘Jane’}), (pr:Product {name:‘iPhone’}) CREATE (p)-[:ORDER]->(pr)

// SurrealQL
RELATE person:Jane->order->product:iPhone

Defining an index:

// Cypher
CREATE INDEX personNameIndex FOR (p:Person) ON (p.name)

// SurrealQL
DEFINE INDEX idx_name ON TABLE person COLUMNS name

Read

For more SurrealQL examples, see the SELECT, LIVE SELECT and RETURN pages.

Returning all the fields of a table:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p

// SurrealQL
SELECT * FROM person

Returning a single field of a table:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p.name

// SurrealQL
SELECT name FROM person

Using the WHERE clause to return certain records:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.name = “Jane” RETURN p.name

// SurrealQL
SELECT name FROM person WHERE name = “Jane”

Using EXPLAIN to detail the query plan used:

// Cypher
EXPLAIN MATCH (p:Person) WHERE p.name = "Jane" RETURN p.name

// SurrealQL
SELECT name FROM person WHERE name = "Jane" EXPLAIN

Grouping and counting the number of records returned:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person) RETURN count(*) as person_count

// SurrealQL
SELECT count() AS person_count FROM person GROUP ALL

See all distinct values for a field among the records of a table:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person) RETURN distinct p.name

// SurrealQL
SELECT array::distinct(name) FROM person GROUP ALL

Returning up to a certain number of records:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person) RETURN p LIMIT 10

// SurrealQL
SELECT * FROM person LIMIT 10

See which person records have ordered a product via the order graph edge:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person)-[:ORDER]->(pr:Product) RETURN p.name, pr.name

// SurrealQL
SELECT name, ->order->product.name FROM person

Update

For more SurrealQL examples, see the UPDATE page.

Conditionally updating records that have a certain value for a field:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person)  WHERE p.name = "Jane"  SET p.last_name = 'Doe'  RETURN p

// SurrealQL
UPDATE person SET last_name = "Doe" WHERE name = "Jane"

Unsetting (removing) the value of a field for certain records:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person)   WHERE p.name = "Jane"   REMOVE p.last_name RETURN p

// SurrealQL
UPDATE person UNSET last_name WHERE name = "Jane"

Delete

For more SurrealQL examples, see the DELETE and REMOVE pages.

Conditionally deleting records based on the value of a field:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person)  WHERE p.name = "Jane"  DELETE p

// SurrealQL
DELETE person WHERE name = "Jane"

Deleting all records for a table (SurrealQL: table still exists):

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person)  DELETE p

// SurrealQL
DELETE person

Deleting all records and table definition for a table:

// Cypher
MATCH (p:Person)  DELETE p

// SurrealQL
REMOVE TABLE person

Resources

• Neo4J page on Surreal Sync, a tool to automatically import existing data into a running SurrealDB instance
• RELATE statement documentation