Delete node and relationships using cypher query over REST API

Question

I'm playing with 2.0 M6 neo4j server (oracle jdk7 on win7 64).

I'm trying to delete a node and its relationships using a single cypher query over the REST API.

The query I create (which works if I run it in the browser UI) looks like:

START n = node( 1916 ) MATCH n-[r]-() DELETE n, r

Which by the time I put it through gson comes out as:

{"query":"START n \u003d node( 1916 ) MATCH n-[r]-() DELETE n, r"}

Which when sent to the server gets the response:

{
  "columns" : [ ],
  "data" : [ ]
}

My test fails because the node can still be found in neo4j server by its id...

If I simplify my query to just delete a node (that has no relationships) so its:

START n = node( 1920 )  DELETE n

Which becomes

{"query":"START n \u003d node( 1920 )  DELETE n"}

Then the node is deleted.

Have I missed something?

Thanks, Andy

Answer 1

For neo4j 2.0 you would do

START n=node(1916)
OPTIONAL MATCH n-[r]-()
DELETE r, n;