@inproceedings{2a667ffc212d456481aa0b45d6f3d592,
title = "Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries",
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{\textquoteright}s pattern matching and formally prove that indeed it falls short of all RPQs, justifying the inclusion of new pattern matching features in GQL.",
keywords = "Cypher, GQL, Regular path queries, inexpressibility",
author = "Am{\'e}lie Gheerbrant and Leonid Libkin and Liat Peterfreund and Alexandra Rogova",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Am{\'e}lie Gheerbrant, Leonid Libkin, Liat Peterfreund, and Alexandra Rogova.; 28th International Conference on Database Theory, ICDT 2025 ; Conference date: 25-03-2025 Through 28-03-2025",
year = "2025",
month = mar,
day = "21",
doi = "10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36",
language = "الإنجليزيّة",
series = "Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, LIPIcs",
publisher = "Schloss Dagstuhl- Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik GmbH, Dagstuhl Publishing",
editor = "Sudeepa Roy and Ahmet Kara",
booktitle = "28th International Conference on Database Theory, ICDT 2025",
address = "ألمانيا",
}