Full-Text Indexes in Neo4j

Introduction

Full-text indexes in Neo4j allow users to perform efficient searches across large text data. This feature is especially useful for applications that require searching through unstructured data, such as documents and articles.

Key Concepts

• **Full-Text Index**: An index that allows for text-based searches across node properties.
• **Tokenization**: The process of breaking text into smaller chunks (tokens) to facilitate searching.
• **Search Queries**: Queries that utilize the full-text index to find matches based on keywords.

Creating Full-Text Indexes

To create a full-text index in Neo4j, use the following Cypher command:

CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX myIndex FOR (n:Article) ON EACH [n.title, n.content]
            

This command creates an index named myIndex for nodes with the label Article, indexing the title and content properties.

Querying Full-Text Indexes

To perform a search using the full-text index, the following Cypher query can be used:

CALL db.index.fulltext.queryNodes("myIndex", "search term") YIELD node, score
RETURN node, score
            

This query searches for nodes indexed by myIndex that match the specified search term.

Best Practices

• Regularly update your indexes to ensure they reflect the latest data changes.
• Use meaningful names for your indexes to make their purpose clear.
• Optimize search queries by limiting the number of properties indexed.
• Monitor performance and adjust your indexing strategy as necessary.

FAQ