Find Neo4j nodes where the property is not set

Question

Using Cypher, how can I find a node where a property doesn't exist?

For example, I have two nodes:

A = {foo: true, name: 'A'},  B = { name: 'B'}

Now I'd like to find B, selecting it on the basis of not having the foo property set. How can I do this?

score 64 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 30 '17 at 09:52

64

As Michael Hunger mentioned

MATCH (n) WHERE NOT EXISTS(n.foo) RETURN n

On older versions of Neo4j you can use HAS:

# Causes error with later versions of Neo4j
MATCH (n) WHERE NOT HAS(n.foo) RETURN n

edited Mar 30 '17 at 09:52

Charlotte

answered Feb 15 '16 at 06:35

manonthemat

10

use `NOT exists(n.foo)` for future compatibility. – Michael Hunger Feb 15 '16 at 13:48
`Has` is no longer supported by Neo4j and produces an error – Liam Feb 13 '17 at 14:17
2

You can also use IS NULL and IS NOT NULL. For example MATCH (n) WHERE n.foo IS NULL RETURN n – bikeman868 Nov 01 '19 at 22:50

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '22 at 04:02

7

As of version 4.3 EXISTS has been deprecated on properties and instead, you should use IS NOT NULL.

So for the example in your question your query would now be:

MATCH (n) WHERE n.foo IS NULL RETURN n

answered Apr 30 '22 at 04:02

Dan Christos

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 15 '16 at 02:36

0

MATCH (f) WHERE f.foo IS NULL RETURN f

answered Feb 15 '16 at 02:36

Andrei R

3 Answers3