Search Results

Documents authored by Gheerbrant, Amélie

Document
Database Theory in Action
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36
Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries

Authors: Amélie Gheerbrant, Leonid Libkin, Liat Peterfreund, and Alexandra Rogova

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 328, 28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025)

Abstract
Cypher has so far been the most commonly used query language for property graphs, and served as the foundation of the recently standardized graph query language GQL. In designing the features of GQL, the standards committee addressed the perceived limitations of Cypher. One such limitation is the inability of Cypher, as originally designed, to express all regular path queries (RPQs). Despite this claim having been stated many times as a folklore result, we could not find any proof of it. In this note we formalize the core of Cypher’s pattern matching and formally prove that indeed it falls short of all RPQs, justifying the inclusion of new pattern matching features in GQL.
Cite as

Amélie Gheerbrant, Leonid Libkin, Liat Peterfreund, and Alexandra Rogova. Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries. In 28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 328, pp. 36:1-36:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{gheerbrant_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36,
  author =	{Gheerbrant, Am\'{e}lie and Libkin, Leonid and Peterfreund, Liat and Rogova, Alexandra},
  title =	{{Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:5},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-364-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{328},
  editor =	{Roy, Sudeepa and Kara, Ahmet},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-229771},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: Regular path queries, Cypher, GQL, inexpressibility}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1
A Researcher’s Digest of GQL (Invited Talk)

Authors: Nadime Francis, Amélie Gheerbrant, Paolo Guagliardo, Leonid Libkin, Victor Marsault, Wim Martens, Filip Murlak, Liat Peterfreund, Alexandra Rogova, and Domagoj Vrgoč

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 255, 26th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2023)

Abstract
GQL (Graph Query Language) is being developed as a new ISO standard for graph query languages to play the same role for graph databases as SQL plays for relational. In parallel, an extension of SQL for querying property graphs, SQL/PGQ, is added to the SQL standard; it shares the graph pattern matching functionality with GQL. Both standards (not yet published) are hard-to-understand specifications of hundreds of pages. The goal of this paper is to present a digest of the language that is easy for the research community to understand, and thus to initiate research on these future standards for querying graphs. The paper concentrates on pattern matching features shared by GQL and SQL/PGQ, as well as querying facilities of GQL.
Cite as

Nadime Francis, Amélie Gheerbrant, Paolo Guagliardo, Leonid Libkin, Victor Marsault, Wim Martens, Filip Murlak, Liat Peterfreund, Alexandra Rogova, and Domagoj Vrgoč. A Researcher’s Digest of GQL (Invited Talk). In 26th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 255, pp. 1:1-1:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{francis_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1,
  author =	{Francis, Nadime and Gheerbrant, Am\'{e}lie and Guagliardo, Paolo and Libkin, Leonid and Marsault, Victor and Martens, Wim and Murlak, Filip and Peterfreund, Liat and Rogova, Alexandra and Vrgo\v{c}, Domagoj},
  title =	{{A Researcher’s Digest of GQL}},
  booktitle =	{26th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2023)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-270-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{255},
  editor =	{Geerts, Floris and Vandevoort, Brecht},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-177434},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: GQL, Property Graph, Query Language, Graph Database, Pattern matching, Multi-Graph}
}
Questions / Remarks / Feedback
X

Feedback for Dagstuhl Publishing


Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2024 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact