Python quick start

At the end of this guide, you will have created a simple Python Hello, World! program that connects to the Memgraph database and executes simple queries.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you will need:

• A running Memgraph instance. If you need to set up Memgraph, take a look at the Installation guide.
• The pymgclient driver. A Memgraph database adapter for the Python programming language.
• A basic understanding of graph databases and the property graph model.

Basic setup

We'll be using a Python program to demonstrate how to connect to a running Memgraph database instance.

Let's jump in and connect a simple program to Memgraph.

1. Create a new directory for your program, for example, /memgraph_python and position yourself in it.
2. Create a new Python script and name it program.py. Add the following code to it:

import mgclient

# Make a connection to the database
connection = mgclient.connect(host='127.0.0.1', port=7687)

# Create a cursor for query execution
cursor = connection.cursor()

# Delete all nodes and relationships
query = "MATCH (n) DETACH DELETE n"

# Execute the query
cursor.execute(query)

# Create a node with the label FirstNode and message property with the value "Hello, World!"
query = """CREATE (n:FirstNode)
           SET n.message = '{message}'
           RETURN 'Node '  + id(n) + ': ' + n.message""".format(message="Hello, World!")

# Execute the query
cursor.execute(query)

# Fetch one row of query results
row = cursor.fetchone()

# Print the first member in row
print(row[0])

3. Don't forget to change the host address in your code. If you are using Docker to run Memgraph, you can find the CONTAINER ID with docker ps and use it in the following command to retrieve the address:

docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' CONTAINER ID

4. Now, you can run the application with the following command:

python ./program.py

You should see an output similar to the following:

Node 1: Hello, World!

Where to next?

For real-world examples of how to use Memgraph, we suggest you take a look at the Tutorials page. You can also browse through the Database functionalities section to get an overview of all the functionalities Memgraph offers.

Getting help

Visit the Getting help page in case you run into any kind of problem or you have additional questions.