The CASE expression is a conditional expression that allows you to evaluate one or more conditions and return different results based on those conditions.

<case expression> ::= <simple case> | <searched case>

GQL supports two forms of the CASE expression:

• Simple CASE
• Searched CASE

Example Graph

The following examples run against this graph:

To create this graph, run the following query against an empty graph:

INSERT (p1:Paper {_id:'P1', title:'Efficient Graph Search', score:6, author:'Alex', publisher:'PulsePress'}),
       (p2:Paper {_id:'P2', title:'Optimizing Queries', score:9, author:'Alex'}),
       (p3:Paper {_id:'P3', title:'Path Patterns', score:7, author:'Zack', publisher:'BrightLeaf'}),
       (p1)-[:Cites {weight:2}]->(p2),
       (p2)-[:Cites {weight:1}]->(p3)

Simple CASE

The simple CASE expression evaluates a single value against multiple possible values, returning the result associated with the first matching value.

<simple case> ::=
  "CASE" <case operand> 
    "WHEN" <when operand list> "THEN" <result>
    [ { "WHEN" <when operand list> "THEN" <result> }... ]
    [ "ELSE" <result> ]
  "END"
     
<when operand list> ::= <when operand> [ { "," <when operand> }... ]

Details

• <case operand> is an expression such as a variable reference, an aggregate function, etc.
• Execution Flow:
  • The <case operand> is compared sequentially against each <when operand list>.
  • If a <when operand list> matches <case operand>, the corresponding <result> is returned.
  • If no matches are found, returns the <result> specified by the ELSE clause. If ELSE is omitted, null is returned by default.
• When the <when operand list> contains multiple <when operand>s, if any <when operand> evaluates to true, the <when operand list> is considered true.
• The <when operand> can explicitly include operators such as =, <>, >, <, >=, <=, IS NULL, IS NOT NULL, etc. The = is implicitly used when no operator but only a constant is specified.

MATCH (n:Paper WHERE n.score > 6)
RETURN CASE count(n) WHEN 3 THEN "Y" ELSE "N" END AS result

Result:

MATCH (n:Paper)
RETURN n.title, n.score,
CASE n.score 
  WHEN <7 THEN "Low"
  WHEN 7,8 THEN "Medium"
ELSE "High" END AS scoreLevel

Result:

MATCH (n:Paper)
RETURN n.title,
CASE n.publisher 
  WHEN IS NULL THEN "Unknown"
ELSE n.publisher END AS Publisher

Result:

Searched CASE

The searched CASE expression evaluates multiple conditions, returning the result associated with the first condition that evaluates to true.

<searched case> ::=
  "CASE"
    "WHEN" <condition> "THEN" <result>
    [ { "WHEN" <condition> "THEN" <result> }... ]
    [ "ELSE" <result> ]
  "END"

Details

• The <condition> is a boolean value expression that evaluates to true or false.
• Execution Flow:
  • The <condition>s are evaluated sequentially.
  • When a <condition> evaluates to true, the corresponding <result> is returned immediately.
  • If no <condition>s are true, returns the <result> specified by the ELSE clause. If ELSE is omitted, null is returned by default.

MATCH (n:Paper)
RETURN n.title,
CASE
  WHEN n.publisher IS NULL THEN "Publisher N/A"
  WHEN n.score < 7 THEN -1
  ELSE n.author
END AS note

Result: