Work

Database Theory in Action: From Inexpressibility to Efficiency in GQL’s Order-Constrained Paths

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Pattern matching of core GQL, the new ISO standard for querying property graphs, cannot check whether edge values are increasing along a path, as established in recent work. We present a constructive translation that overcomes this limitation by compiling the increasing-edges condition into the input graph. Remarkably, the benefit of this construction goes beyond restoring expressiveness. In our proof-of-concept implementation in Neo4j’s Cypher, where such path constraints are expressible but costly, our compiled version runs faster and avoids timeouts. This illustrates how a theoretically motivated translation can not only close an expressiveness gap but also bring practical performance gains.

Source: DROPS (Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz Center for Informatics)

DOI: 10.4230/lipics.icdt.2026.26

Authors: Rotschield, Hadar, Peterfreund, Liat

Institution: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Language: English

Topic: Graph Theory and Algorithms

Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Israel Science Foundation

OpenAlex ID: W7138965027