neo4j how to return all node labels with Cypher?

Question

I can't find how to return a node labels with Cypher.

Anybody knows the syntax for this operation?

score 103 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 14 '17 at 22:49

103

To get all distinct node labels:

MATCH (n) RETURN distinct labels(n)

To get the node count for each label:

MATCH (n) RETURN distinct labels(n), count(*)

edited Mar 14 '17 at 22:49

mkral

4,065
4
28
53

answered Jun 05 '14 at 11:06

petra

2,642
2
20
12

5

`MATCH n RETURN DISTINCT LABELS(n)` is 8 characters less to type :) – F Lekschas Oct 14 '15 at 14:15
Agree with @FLekschas and moreover, Neo recommends that you use `MATCH` for newer Neo4j databases because `START` is for legacy indexes. – ADTC May 14 '16 at 08:10
`Neo.ClientError.Statement.SyntaxError Parentheses are required to identify nodes in patterns, i.e. (n) ...` (v. 3.1.1) – vladkras Mar 11 '17 at 06:09
7

This question also has `neo4j` tag in addition to `cypher`. The shortest to write (and fastest to execute!) query for getting all distinct node labels is `CALL db.labels` -- at least since `neo4j` 3.0, see also CALL page in `neo4j` [manual](https://neo4j.com/docs/developer-manual/3.0/cypher/clauses/call/) – unserializable May 28 '17 at 12:28
How can I return labels for a list of nodes? – user3701435 Aug 18 '18 at 14:13

score 63 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 23 '13 at 12:10

63

There is a function labels(node) that can return all labels for a node.

answered Aug 23 '13 at 12:10

Lisa Li

2,562
15
11

score 41 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 18 '17 at 12:45

41

Neo4j 3.0 has introduced the procedure db.labels() witch return all available labels in the database. Use:

call db.labels();

answered Dec 18 '17 at 12:45

Bruno Peres

15,845
5
53
89

2

this is the most efficient approach – zhibo Jan 24 '19 at 15:05
`call` is `4ms` vs `15ms` for `MATCH (n)` on my digitialocean test DB. *One note*: I have hierarchical labels, and `MATCH` returns them as `["RawFile", "RawPhoto"]`, where `call` only returns the flattened list. – joshfindit Apr 30 '19 at 14:45
Why was this so hard to find. – Iman Akbari Jun 14 '20 at 23:34

ErnestoE · Answer 4 · 2016-08-14T10:38:07.873

25

If you want all the individual labels (not the combinations) you can always expand on the answers:

MATCH (n)
WITH DISTINCT labels(n) AS labels
UNWIND labels AS label
RETURN DISTINCT label
ORDER BY label

edited Aug 14 '16 at 10:38

answered Dec 06 '14 at 17:54

ErnestoE

1,264
13
20

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 02 '13 at 16:34

5

 START n=node(*) RETURN labels(n)

answered Dec 02 '13 at 16:34

gaurav.singharoy

3,751
4
22
25

Results on this are currently a nightmare. Returns 1 row for every node. `START n=node(*) RETURN DISTINCT(labels(n))` returns the same as `MATCH (n) RETURN distinct labels(n)`, but takes ~10 times as long (on my db) – joshfindit Apr 30 '19 at 14:48

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 29 '15 at 20:10

4

If you're using the Java API, you can quickly get an iterator of all the Labels in the database like so:

GraphDatabaseService db = (new GraphDatabaseFactory()).newEmbeddedDatabase(pathToDatabase);
ResourceIterable<Label> labs = GlobalGraphOperations.at(db).getAllLabels();

answered Jun 29 '15 at 20:10

Ken Williams

22,756
10
85
147

2

"with Cypher" -- OP – c z Jan 05 '17 at 13:57

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 09 '17 at 03:25

If you want to get the labels of a specify node, then use labels(node); If you only want to get all node labels in neo4j, then use this function instead: call db.labels;, never ever use this query: MATCH n RETURN DISTINCT LABELS(n). It will do a full table scan, which is very very slow..

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 24 '23 at 12:37

0

match(n) where n.name="abc" return labels(n)

it returns all the labels of the node "abc"

answered Mar 24 '23 at 12:37

Guest

1

neo4j how to return all node labels with Cypher?

8 Answers8

Linked