GQL Conformance

GQL is the standardized query language for graph databases, published by ISO/IEC in April 2024 as:

ISO/IEC 39075:2024 - Information technology — Database languages — GQL

Ultipa now supports nearly all GQL features. This page claims the GQL conformance and Ultipa extensions.

Conformance to Required Features

Following the GQL standard subclause 24.2, Ultipa’s support of the data model and mandatory GQL features is declared as follows.

Minimum Conformance

Per subclause 24.2, Ultipa claims:

Graph Type Support: Conformance to both Feature GG01 (open graph type) and Feature GG02 (closed graph type).
Unicode Compliance: Version 13 of The Unicode Standard.
Property Value Type Support: STRING/VARCHAR, BOOLEAN/BOOL, INTEGER/INT, FLOAT, and additional optional types.

Mandatory Features

Mandatory features are not assigned Feature IDs and Feature Names, unlike the optional features. Therefore, we reference them by their corresponding subclause numbers and titles as specified in the GQL standard:

Subclause	Title	Support	Note
7	Session management	No	`SESSION SET`, `SESSION RESET`, `SESSION CLOSE`
8	Transaction management	Yes	`START TRANSACTION`, `ROLLBACK`, `COMMIT`
11	Object expressions	Yes	`CURRENT_GRAPH`
14.4	<match statement>	Yes	`MATCH`, `OPTIONAL MATCH`
14.9	<order by and page statement>	Yes	`ORDER BY`
14.10	<primitive result statement>	Yes
14.11	<return statement>	Yes	`RETURN`
14.12	<select statement>	No	`SELECT`
16.1	<at schema clause>	No
16.3	<graph pattern binding table>	Yes
16.4	<graph pattern>	Yes
16.5	<insert graph pattern>	Yes
16.7	<path pattern expression>	Yes
16.8	<label expression>	Yes
16.9	<path variable reference>	Yes
16.10	<element variable reference>	Yes
16.13	<where clause>	Yes	`WHERE`
16.14	<yield clause>	Yes	`YIELD`
16.16	<order by clause>	Yes	`ORDER BY`
16.17	<sort specification list>	Yes	`ASC`, `DESC`
19.3	<comparison predicate>	Yes	`=`, `<>`, `<`, `>`, `<=`, `>=`
19.4	<exists predicate>	Yes	`EXISTS`
19.5	<null predicate>	Yes	`IS NULL`, `IS NOT NULL`
19.7	<normalized predicate>	No	`IS NORMALIZED`, `IS NOT NORMALIZED`
20.2	<value expression primary>	Yes
20.3	<value specification>	Yes	Ultipa does not support `SESSION_USER`
20.7	<case expression>	Yes	`CASE`, `NULLIF`, `COALESCE`
20.9	<aggregate function>	Yes	`avg()`, `count()`, `max()`, `min()`, `sum()`
20.11	<property reference>	Yes	Property reference of a graph element.
20.20	<boolean value expression>	Yes	`AND`, `OR`, `NOT`
20.21	<numeric value expression>	Yes	`+`, `-`, `*`, `/`
20.22	<numeric value function>	Yes	`char_length()`, `character_length()`
20.23	<string value expression>	Yes	String concatenation operator `\|\|`
20.24	<character string function>	Yes	`left()`, `right()`, `upper()`, `lower()`, `normalize()`
20.25	<byte string function>	No	`left()`, `right()`
20.29	<duration value function>	Yes	`duration()`
21.1	Names and variables	Yes
21.2	<literal>	Yes

Conformance to Optional Features

Standard-defined optional GQL features are referenced by a Feature ID that comprises a letter “G” and three digits, and a Feature Name.

	Feature ID	Feature Name	Support
1	G002	Different-edges match mode	Yes
2	G003	Explicit REPEATABLE ELEMENTS keyword	Yes
3	G004	Path variables	Yes
4	G005	Path search prefix in a path pattern	Yes
5	G006	Graph pattern KEEP clause: path mode prefix	No
6	G007	Graph pattern KEEP clause: path search prefix	No
7	G010	Explicit WALK keyword	Yes
8	G011	Advanced path modes: TRAIL	Yes
9	G012	Advanced path modes: SIMPLE	Yes
10	G013	Advanced path modes: ACYCLIC	Yes
11	G014	Explicit PATH/PATHS keywords	Yes
12	G015	All path search: explicit ALL keyword	Yes
13	G016	Any path search	Yes
14	G017	All shortest path search	Yes
15	G018	Any shortest path search	Yes
16	G019	Counted shortest path search	Yes
17	G020	Counted shortest group search	Yes
18	G030	Path multiset alternation	No
19	G031	Path multiset alternation: variable length path operands	No
20	G032	Path pattern union	No
21	G033	Path pattern union: variable length path operands	No
22	G035	Quantified paths	Yes
23	G036	Quantified edges	Yes
24	G037	Questioned paths	Yes
25	G038	Parenthesized path pattern expression	Yes
26	G039	Simplified path pattern expression: full defaulting	No
27	G041	Non-local element pattern predicates	Yes
28	G043	Complete full edge patterns	Yes
29	G044	Basic abbreviated edge patterns	Yes
30	G045	Complete abbreviated edge patterns	Yes
31	G046	Relaxed topological consistency: adjacent vertex patterns	Yes
32	G047	Relaxed topological consistency: concise edge patterns	Yes
33	G048	Parenthesized path pattern: subpath variable declaration	Yes
34	G049	Parenthesized path pattern: path mode prefix	Yes
35	G050	Parenthesized path pattern: WHERE clause	Yes
36	G051	Parenthesized path pattern: non-local predicates	Yes
37	G060	Bounded graph pattern quantifiers	Yes
38	G061	Unbounded graph pattern quantifiers	Yes
39	G074	Label expression: wildcard label	Yes
40	G080	Simplified path pattern expression: basic defaulting	No
41	G081	Simplified path pattern expression: full overrides	No
42	G082	Simplified path pattern expression: basic overrides	No
43	G100	ELEMENT_ID function	Yes
44	G110	IS DIRECTED predicate	Yes
45	G111	IS LABELED predicate	Yes
46	G112	IS SOURCE and IS DESTINATION predicate	Yes
47	G113	ALL_DIFFERENT predicate	Yes
48	G114	SAME predicate	Yes
49	G115	PROPERTY_EXISTS predicate	Yes
50	GA01	IEEE 754 floating point operations	Yes
51	GA03	Explicit ordering of nulls	Yes
52	GA04	Universal comparison	Yes
53	GA05	Cast specification	Yes
54	GA06	Value type predicate	Yes
55	GA07	Ordering by discarded binding variables	Yes
56	GA08	GQL-status objects with diagnostic records	No
57	GA09	Comparison of paths	Yes
58	GB01	Long identifiers	Yes
59	GB02	Double minus sign comments	Yes
60	GB03	Double solidus comments	Yes
61	GC01	Graph schema management	No
62	GC02	Graph schema management: IF [ NOT ] EXISTS	No
63	GC03	Graph type: IF [ NOT ] EXISTS	Yes
64	GC04	Graph management	Yes
65	GC05	Graph management: IF [ NOT ] EXISTS	Yes
66	GD01	Updatable graphs	Yes
67	GD02	Graph label set changes	Yes
68	GD03	DELETE statement: subquery support	No
69	GD04	DELETE statement: simple expression support	No
70	GE01	Graph reference value expressions	No
71	GE02	Binding table reference value expressions	No
72	GE03	Let-binding of variables in expressions	Yes
73	GE04	Graph parameters	No
74	GE05	Binding table parameters	No
75	GE06	Path value construction	Yes
76	GE07	Boolean XOR	Yes
77	GE08	Reference parameters	No
78	GE09	Horizontal aggregation	No
79	GF01	Enhanced numeric functions	Yes
80	GF02	Trigonometric functions	Yes
81	GF03	Logarithmic functions	Yes
82	GF04	Enhanced path functions	Yes
83	GF05	Multi-character TRIM function	Yes
84	GF06	Explicit TRIM function	Yes
85	GF07	Byte string TRIM function	No
86	GF10	Advanced aggregate functions: general set functions	Yes
87	GF11	Advanced aggregate functions: binary set functions	Yes
88	GF12	CARDINALITY function	Yes
89	GF13	SIZE function	Yes
90	GF20	Aggregate functions in sort keys	Yes
91	GG01	Graph with an open graph type	Yes
92	GG02	Graph with a closed graph type	Yes
93	GG03	Graph type inline specification	Yes
94	GG04	Graph type like a graph	Yes
95	GG05	Graph from a graph source	No
96	GG20	Explicit element type names	Yes
97	GG21	Explicit element type key label sets	Yes
98	GG22	Element type key label set inference	No
99	GG23	Optional element type key label sets	Yes
100	GG24	Relaxed structural consistency	Yes
101	GG25	Relaxed key label set uniqueness for edge types	No
102	GG26	Relaxed property value type consistency	Yes
103	GH01	External object references	No
104	GH02	Undirected edge patterns	No
105	GL01	Hexadecimal literals	No
106	GL02	Octal literals	No
107	GL03	Binary literals	No
108	GL04	Exact number in common notation without suffix	Yes
109	GL05	Exact number in common notation or as decimal integer with suffix	Yes
110	GL06	Exact number in scientific notation with suffix	Yes
111	GL07	Approximate number in common notation or as decimal integer with suffix	No
112	GL08	Approximate number in scientific notation with suffix	No
113	GL09	Optional float number suffix	No
114	GL10	Optional double number suffix	No
115	GL11	Opt-out character escaping	No
116	GL12	SQL datetime and interval formats	Yes
117	GP01	Inline procedure	Yes
118	GP02	Inline procedure with implicit nested variable scope	Yes
119	GP03	Inline procedure with explicit nested variable scope	Yes
120	GP04	Named procedure calls	Yes
121	GP05	Procedure-local value variable definitions	No
122	GP06	Procedure-local value variable definitions: value variables based on simple expressions	No
123	GP07	Procedure-local value variable definitions: value variable based on subqueries	No
124	GP08	Procedure-local binding table variable definitions	No
125	GP09	Procedure-local binding table variable definitions: binding table variables based on simple expressions or references	No
126	GP10	Procedure-local binding table variable definitions: binding table variables based on subqueries	No
127	GP11	Procedure-local graph variable definitions	No
128	GP12	Procedure-local graph variable definitions: graph variables based on simple expressions or references	No
129	GP13	Procedure-local graph variable definitions: graph variables based on subqueries	No
130	GP14	Binding tables as procedure arguments	No
131	GP15	Graphs as procedure arguments	No
132	GP16	AT schema clause	No
133	GP17	Binding variable definition block	No
134	GP18	Catalog and data statement mixing	Yes
135	GQ01	USE graph clause	Yes
136	GQ02	Composite query: OTHERWISE	Yes
137	GQ03	Composite query: UNION	Yes
138	GQ04	Composite query: EXCEPT DISTINCT	Yes
139	GQ05	Composite query: EXCEPT ALL	Yes
140	GQ06	Composite query: INTERSECT DISTINCT	Yes
141	GQ07	Composite query: INTERSECT ALL	Yes
142	GQ08	FILTER statement	Yes
143	GQ09	LET statement	Yes
144	GQ10	FOR statement: list value support	Yes
145	GQ11	FOR statement: WITH ORDINALITY	Yes
146	GQ12	ORDER BY and page statement: OFFSET clause	Yes
147	GQ13	ORDER BY and page statement: LIMIT clause	Yes
148	GQ14	Complex expressions in sort keys	Yes
149	GQ15	GROUP BY clause	Yes
150	GQ16	Pre-projection aliases in sort keys	Yes
151	GQ17	Element-wise group variable operations	Yes
152	GQ18	Scalar subqueries	Yes
153	GQ19	Graph pattern YIELD clause	Yes
154	GQ20	Advanced linear composition with NEXT	Yes
155	GQ21	OPTIONAL: Multiple MATCH statements	Yes
156	GQ22	EXISTS predicate: multiple MATCH statements	Yes
157	GQ23	FOR statement: binding table support	Yes
158	GQ24	FOR statement: WITH OFFSET	Yes
159	GS01	SESSION SET command: session-local graph parameters	No
160	GS02	SESSION SET command: session-local binding table parameters	No
161	GS03	SESSION SET command: session-local value parameters	No
162	GS04	SESSION RESET command: reset all characteristics	No
163	GS05	SESSION RESET command: reset session schema	No
164	GS06	SESSION RESET command: reset session graph	No
165	GS07	SESSION RESET command: reset time zone displacement	No
166	GS08	SESSION RESET command: reset all session parameters	No
167	GS10	SESSION SET command: session-local binding table parameters based on subqueries	No
168	GS11	SESSION SET command: session-local value parameters based on subqueries	No
169	GS12	SESSION SET command: session-local graph parameters based on simple expressions or references	No
170	GS13	SESSION SET command: session-local binding table parameters based on simple expressions or references	No
171	GS14	SESSION SET command: session-local value parameters based on simple expressions	No
172	GS15	SESSION SET command: set time zone displacement	No
173	GS16	SESSION RESET command: reset individual session parameters	No
174	GT01	Explicit transaction commands	Yes
175	GT02	Specified transaction characteristics	Yes
176	GT03	Use of multiple graphs in a transaction	No
177	GV01	8 bit unsigned integer numbers	Yes
178	GV02	8 bit signed integer numbers	Yes
179	GV03	16 bit unsigned integer numbers	Yes
180	GV04	16 bit signed integer numbers	Yes
181	GV05	Small unsigned integer numbers	No
182	GV06	32 bit unsigned integer numbers	Yes
183	GV07	32 bit signed integer numbers	Yes
184	GV08	Regular unsigned integer numbers	Yes
185	GV09	Specified integer number precision	No
186	GV10	Big unsigned integer numbers	No
187	GV11	64 bit unsigned integer numbers	Yes
188	GV12	64 bit signed integer numbers	Yes
189	GV13	128 bit unsigned integer numbers	No
190	GV14	128 bit signed integer numbers	No
191	GV15	256 bit unsigned integer numbers	No
192	GV16	256 bit signed integer numbers	No
193	GV17	Decimal numbers	Yes
194	GV18	Small signed integer numbers	Yes
195	GV19	Big signed integer numbers	Yes
196	GV20	16 bit floating point numbers	No
197	GV21	32 bit floating point numbers	Yes
198	GV22	Specified floating point number precision	No
199	GV23	Floating point type name synonyms	Yes
200	GV24	64 bit floating point numbers	Yes
201	GV25	128 bit floating point numbers	No
202	GV26	256 bit floating point numbers	No
203	GV30	Specified character string minimum length	No
204	GV31	Specified character string maximum length	Yes
205	GV32	Specified character string fixed length	No
206	GV35	Byte string types	No
207	GV36	Specified byte string minimum length	No
208	GV37	Specified byte string maximum length	No
209	GV38	Specified byte string fixed length	No
210	GV39	Temporal types: date, local datetime and local time support	Yes
211	GV40	Temporal types: zoned datetime and zoned time support	Yes
212	GV41	Temporal types: duration support	Yes
213	GV45	Record types	Yes
214	GV46	Closed record types	Yes
215	GV47	Open record types	No
216	GV48	Nested record types	Yes
217	GV50	List value types	Yes
218	GV55	Path value types	Yes
219	GV60	Graph reference value types	No
220	GV61	Binding table reference value types	No
221	GV65	Dynamic union types	Yes
222	GV66	Open dynamic union types	Yes
223	GV67	Closed dynamic union types	No
224	GV68	Dynamic property value types	No
225	GV70	Immaterial value types	Yes
226	GV71	Immaterial value types: null type support	Yes
227	GV72	Immaterial value types: empty type support	Yes
228	GV90	Explicit value type nullability	Yes

Ultipa Extensions

Beyond the GQL standard, Ultipa provides additional features:

Feature	Description
Constraints	`NOT NULL` and `UNIQUE` constraints on node and edge properties
Backup and restore	`BACKUP GRAPH`, `BACKUP DATABASE`, `RESTORE`, `VERIFY BACKUP`, incremental backups
Triggers	`BEFORE INSERT` and `BEFORE UPDATE` triggers with callable body expressions
Full-text index	Full-text indexing with BM25 scoring, CJK support, and query operators (AND, OR, NOT, phrase, proximity, wildcard)
Vector index	HNSW-based vector index with cosine, euclidean, and dot product metrics
AI functions	`ai.embed()`, `ai.cosine()`, `ai.distance()`, `ai.gql()`, `ai.read()`, provider configuration
Stored procedures	`CREATE PROCEDURE`, `CALL`, with algorithm and query types
Graph projections	Named in-memory subgraph projections
RBAC	Role-based access control with `GRANT`, `REVOKE`, users and roles
Query management	`SHOW QUERIES`, `KILL QUERY`, `EXPLAIN` / `EXPLAIN ANALYZE` / `EXPLAIN OPTIMIZER`
Transactions	`START TRANSACTION`, `COMMIT`, `ROLLBACK`, `SAVEPOINT`, `READ ONLY` mode
Ontology	OWL-based ontology support with class hierarchies, domain/range constraints
Federation	Cross-database query federation via `SERVICE` endpoints