Filter query results / search queries¶
Table of contents
- The where argument
- Comparision operators- Equality operators (_eq, _neq)
- Greater than or less than operators (_gt, _lt, _gte, _lte)
- List based search operators (_in, _nin)
- Text search or pattern matching operators (_like, _similar, etc.)
- JSONB operators (_contains, _has_key, etc.)
- PostGIS spatial relationship operators (_st_contains, _st_crosses, etc.)
- Filter or check for null values (_is_null)
- Intersect operators on RASTER columns (_st_intersects_rast, etc)
 
- Filter based on failure of some criteria (_not)
- Using multiple filters in the same query (_and, _or)
- Filter nested objects
- Filter based on nested objects’ fields- Fetch if the single nested object defined via an object relationship satisfies a condition
- Fetch if any of the nested objects defined via an array relationship satisfy a condition
- Fetch if all of the nested objects defined via an array relationship satisfy a condition
- Fetch if none of the nested objects defined via an array relationship satisfy a condition
- Fetch if nested object(s) exist/do not exist
 
- Cast a field to a different type before filtering (_cast)
- The TRUE expression ( { } )
- Evaluation of null values in comparision expressions
The where argument¶
You can use the where argument in your queries to filter results based on some field’s values (even
nested objects’ fields). You can even use multiple filters in the same where clause using the _and or the
_or operators.
For example, to fetch data for an author whose name is “Sidney”:
 query {
   authors(
     where: {name: {_eq: "Sidney"}}
   ) {
     id
     name
   }
 }
You can also use nested objects` fields to filter rows from a table and also filter the nested objects as well.
For example, to fetch a list of authors who have articles with a rating greater than 4 along with those articles:
 query {
   authors (where: {articles: {rating: {_gt: 4}}}) {
     id
     name
     articles (where: {rating: {_gt: 4}}) {
       id
       title
       rating
     }
   }
 }
Here _eq and _gt are examples of comparison operators that can be used in the where
argument to filter on equality.
You can see the complete specification of the where argument in the API reference.
Comparision operators¶
Let’s take a look at different comparision operators that can be used to filter results.
Equality operators (_eq, _neq)¶
The _eq (equal to) or the _neq (not equal to) operators are compatible with any Postgres type other than
json or jsonB (like Integer, Float, Double, Text, Boolean,
Date/Time/Timestamp, etc.).
For more details on equality operators and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
The following are examples of using the equality operators on different types.
Example: Integer (works with Double, Float, Numeric, etc.)
Fetch data about an author whose id (an integer field) is equal to 3:
query {
  authors(
    where: {id: {_eq: 3}}
  ) {
    id
    name
  }
}
Example: String or Text
Fetch a list of authors with name (a text field) as “Sidney”:
query {
  authors(
    where: {name: {_eq: "Sidney"}}
  ) {
    id
    name
  }
}
Example: Boolean
Fetch a list of articles that have not been published (is_published is a boolean field):
query {
  articles(
    where: {is_published: {_eq: false}}
  ) {
    id
    title
    is_published
  }
}
Example: Date (works with Time, Timezone, etc.)
Fetch a list of articles that were published on a certain date (published_on is a Date field):
query {
  articles(
    where: {published_on: {_eq: "2017-05-26"}}
  ) {
    id
    title
    published_on
  }
}
Greater than or less than operators (_gt, _lt, _gte, _lte)¶
The _gt (greater than), _lt (less than), _gte (greater than or equal to),
_lte (less than or equal to) operators are compatible with any Postgres type other than json or jsonB
(like Integer, Float, Double, Text, Boolean, Date/Time/Timestamp, etc.).
For more details on greater than or less than operators and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
The following are examples of using these operators on different types:
Example: Integer (works with Double, Float, etc.)
Fetch a list of articles rated 4 or more (rating is an integer field):
query {
  articles(
    where: {rating: {_gte: 4}}
  ) {
    id
    title
    rating
  }
}
Example: String or Text
Fetch a list of authors whose names begin with M or any letter that follows M (essentially, a filter based on a dictionary sort):
query {
  authors(
    where: {name: {_gt: "M"}}
  ) {
    id
    name
  }
}
Example: Date (works with Time, Timezone, etc.)
Fetch a list of articles that were published on or after date “01/01/2018”:
query {
  articles(
    where: {published_on: {_gte: "2018-01-01"}}
  ) {
    id
    title
    published_on
  }
}
List based search operators (_in, _nin)¶
The _in (in a list) and _nin (not in list) operators are used to compare field values to a list of values.
They are compatible with any Postgres type other than json or jsonB (like Integer, Float, Double,
Text, Boolean, Date/Time/Timestamp, etc.).
For more details on list based search operators and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
The following are examples of using these operators on different types:
Example: Integer (works with Double, Float, etc.)
Fetch a list of articles rated 1, 3 or 5:
query {
  articles(
    where: {rating: {_in: [1,3,5]}}
  ) {
    id
    title
    rating
  }
}
Example: String or Text
Fetch a list of those authors whose names are NOT part of a list:
query {
  authors(
    where: {name: {_nin: ["Justin","Sidney","April"]}}
  ) {
    id
    name
  }
}
Text search or pattern matching operators (_like, _similar, etc.)¶
The _like, _nlike, _ilike, _nilike, _similar, _nsimilar, _regex, _nregex, _iregex, _niregex operators are used for
pattern matching on string/text fields.
For more details on text search operators and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
Example: _like
Fetch a list of articles whose titles contain the word “amet”:
query {
  articles(
    where: {title: {_like: "%amet%"}}
  ) {
    id
    title
  }
}
Note
_like is case-sensitive. Use _ilike for case-insensitive search.
Example: _similar
Fetch a list of authors whose names begin with A or C:
query {
  authors(
    where: {name: {_similar: "(A|C)%"}}
  ) {
    id
    name
  }
}
Note
_similar is case-sensitive
JSONB operators (_contains, _has_key, etc.)¶
The _contains, _contained_in, _has_key, _has_keys_any and _has_keys_all operators are used to filter
based on JSONB columns.
For more details on JSONB operators and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
Example: _contains
Fetch all authors living within a particular pincode (present in address JSONB column):
query get_authors_in_pincode ($jsonFilter: jsonb){
  authors(
    where: {
      address: {_contains: $jsonFilter }
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    address
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "jsonFilter": {
    "pincode": 560095
  }
}
Example: _has_key
Fetch authors if the phone key is present in their JSONB address column:
query get_authors_if_phone {
  authors(
    where: {
      address: {_has_key: "phone" }
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    address
  }
}
PostGIS spatial relationship operators (_st_contains, _st_crosses, etc.)¶
The _st_contains, _st_crosses, _st_equals, _st_intersects, _st_overlaps, _st_touches,
_st_within and _st_d_within operators are used to filter based on geometry like columns.
_st_d_within and _st_intersects can be used on geography columns also.
For more details on spatial relationship operators and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
Use JSON representation (see GeoJSON) of geometry and geography values in
variables as shown in the following examples:
Example: _st_within
Fetch a list of geometry values which are within the given polygon value:
query geom_table($polygon: geometry){
  geom_table(
    where: {geom_col: {_st_within: $polygon}}
  ){
    id
    geom_col
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "polygon": {
    "type": "Polygon",
    "coordinates": [
      [
        [ 0, 0 ],
        [ 0, 2 ],
        [ 2, 2 ],
        [ 2, 0 ],
        [ 0, 0 ]
      ]
    ]
  }
}
Example: _st_d_within
Fetch a list of geometry values which are 3 units from given point value:
query geom_table($point: geometry){
  geom_table(
    where: {geom_col: {_st_d_within: {distance: 3, from: $point}}}
  ){
    id
    geom_col
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "point": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [ 0, 0 ]
  }
}
Filter or check for null values (_is_null)¶
Checking for null values can be achieved using the _is_null operator.
For more details on the _is_null operator and Postgres equivalent, refer to the API reference.
Example: Filter null values in a field
Fetch a list of articles that have a value in the published_on field:
query {
  articles(
    where: {published_on: {_is_null: false}}
  ) {
    id
    title
    published_on
  }
}
Intersect operators on RASTER columns (_st_intersects_rast, etc)¶
Intersect operators on columns with raster type are supported.
Please submit a feature request via GitHub if you want support for more functions.
For more details on intersect operators on raster columns and Postgres equivalents, refer to the API reference.
Example: _st_intersects_rast
Filter the raster values which intersect the input raster value.
Executes the following SQL function:
boolean ST_Intersects( raster <raster-col> , raster <raster-value> );
query getIntersectingValues ($rast: raster){
  dummy_rast(where: {rast: {_st_intersects_rast: $rast}}){
    rid
    rast
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "rast": "0100000100000000000000004000000000000000C00000000000000000000000000000084000000000000000000000000000000000E610000001000100440001"
}
Example: _st_intersects_geom_nband
Filter the raster values which intersect the input geometry value and optional band number.
Executes the following SQL function:
boolean ST_Intersects( raster <raster-col> , geometry geommin , integer nband=NULL );
query getIntersectingValues ($point: geometry!){
  dummy_rast(where: {rast: {_st_intersects_geom_nband: {geommin: $point}}}){
    rid
    rast
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "point": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      1,
      2
    ],
    "crs": {
      "type": "name",
      "properties": {
        "name": "urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326"
      }
    }
  }
}
Example: _st_intersects_nband_geom
Filter the raster values (with specified band number) which intersect the input geometry value.
Executes the following SQL function:
boolean ST_Intersects( raster <raster-col> , integer nband , geometry geommin );
query getIntersectingValues ($point: geometry!){
  dummy_rast(where: {rast: {_st_intersects_nband_geom: {nband: 5 geommin: $point}}}){
    rid
    rast
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "point": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      1,
      2
    ],
    "crs": {
      "type": "name",
      "properties": {
        "name": "urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326"
      }
    }
  }
}
Filter based on failure of some criteria (_not)¶
The _not operator can be used to fetch results for which some condition does not hold true. i.e. to invert the
filter set for a condition.
Example: _not
Fetch all authors who don’t have any published articles:
{
  authors(
    where: {
      _not: {
        articles: { is_published: {_eq: true} }
      }
    }) {
    id
    name
    articles {
      title
      is_published
    }
  }
}
Using multiple filters in the same query (_and, _or)¶
You can group multiple parameters in the same where argument using the _and or the _or operators to filter
results based on more than one criteria.
Note
You can use the _or and _and operators along with the _not operator to create arbitrarily complex boolean
expressions involving multiple filtering criteria.
Example: _and
Fetch a list of articles published in a specific time-frame (for example: in year 2017):
query {
  articles (
    where: {
      _and: [
        { published_on: {_gte: "2017-01-01"}},
        { published_on: {_lte: "2017-12-31"}}
      ]
    }
  )
  {
    id
    title
    published_on
  }
}
Note
Certain _and expressions can be expressed in a simpler format using some syntactic sugar. See the
API reference for more details.
Example: _or
Fetch a list of articles rated more than 4 or published after “01/01/2018”:
query {
  articles (
    where: {
      _or: [
        {rating: {_gte: 4}},
        {published_on: {_gte: "2018-01-01"}}
      ]
    }
  )
  {
    id
    title
    rating
    published_on
  }
}
Note
The _or operator expects an array of expressions as input. If an object is passed as input it will behave like
the _and operator as explained in the API reference
Filter nested objects¶
The where argument can be used in array relationships as well to filter the nested objects.
Object relationships have only one nested object and hence they do not expose the where argument.
Example:
Fetch all authors with only their 5 rated articles:
{
  authors {
    id
    name
    articles(where: {rating: {_eq: 5}}) {
      title
      rating
    }
  }
}
Filter based on nested objects’ fields¶
You can use the fields of nested objects as well to filter your query results.
For example:
   query {
     articles (where: {author: {name: {_eq: "Sidney"}}}) {
       id
       title
     }
   }
The behaviour of the comparision operators depends on whether the nested objects are a single object related via an object relationship or an array of objects related via an array relationship.
- In case of an object relationship, a row will be returned if the single nested object satisfies the defined condition.
- In case of an array relationship, a row will be returned if any of the nested objects satisfy the defined condition.
Let’s look at a few use cases based on the above:
Fetch if the single nested object defined via an object relationship satisfies a condition¶
Example:
Fetch all articles whose author’s name starts with “A”:
{
  articles (
    where: {
      author: {
        name: { _similar: "A%"}
      }
    }
  ) {
    id
    title
    author {
      name
    }
  }
}
Fetch if any of the nested objects defined via an array relationship satisfy a condition¶
Example:
Fetch all authors which have written at least one article which is rated 1:
{
  authors(
    where: {
      articles: {rating: {_eq: 1}}
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    articles {
      title
      rating
    }
  }
}
Fetch if all of the nested objects defined via an array relationship satisfy a condition¶
By default a row is returned if any of the nested objects satisfy a condition. To achieve the above, we need to frame
the where expression as {_not: {inverse-of-condition}}. This reads as: fetch if not (any of the nested objects
satisfy the inverted condition) i.e. all of the nested objects satisfy the condition.
For example:
| condition | where expression | 
|---|---|
| {object: {field: {_eq: "value"}}} | {_not: {object: {field: {_neq: "value"}}} | 
| {object: {field: {_gt: "value"}}} | {_not: {object: {field: {_lte: "value"}}} | 
Example:
Fetch all authors which have all of their articles published i.e. have {is_published {_eq: true}.
{
  authors (
    where: {
      _not: {
        articles: {is_published: {_neq: true}}
      }
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    articles {
      title
      is_published
    }
  }
}
Fetch if none of the nested objects defined via an array relationship satisfy a condition¶
By default a row is returned if any of the nested objects satisfy a condition. To achieve the above, we need to frame
the where expression as {_not: {condition}}. This reads as: fetch if not (any of the nested objects
satisfy the condition) i.e. none of the nested objects satisy the condition.
For example,
| condition | where expression | 
|---|---|
| {object: {field: {_eq: "value"}}} | {_not: {object: {field: {_eq: "value"}}} | 
| {object: {field: {_gt: "value"}}} | {_not: {object: {field: {_gt: "value"}}} | 
Example:
Fetch all authors which have none of their articles published i.e. have {is_published {_eq: true}:
{
  authors(
    where: {
      _not: {
        articles: {is_published: {_eq: true}}
      }
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    articles {
      title
      is_published
    }
  }
}
Fetch if nested object(s) exist/do not exist¶
You can filter results based on if they have nested objects by checking if any nested objects exist. This can be
achieved by using the expression {} which evaluates to true if any object exists.
Example where nested object(s) exist:
Fetch all authors which have at least one article written by them:
{
  authors (
    where: {
      articles: {}
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    articles_aggregate {
      aggregate {
        count
      }
    }
  }
}
Example where nested object(s) do not exist:
Fetch all authors which have not written any articles:
{
  authors (
    where: {
      _not: {
        articles: {}
      }
    }
  ) {
    id
    name
    articles_aggregate {
      aggregate {
        count
      }
    }
  }
}
Cast a field to a different type before filtering (_cast)¶
The _cast operator can be used to cast a field to a different type, which allows type-specific
operators to be used on fields that otherwise would not support them. Currently, only casting
between PostGIS geometry and geography types is supported.
Casting using _cast corresponds directly to
SQL type casts.
Example: cast ``geometry`` to ``geography``
Filtering using _st_d_within over large distances can be inaccurate for location data stored in
geometry columns. For accurate queries, cast the field to geography before comparing:
query cities_near($point: geography!, $distance: Float!) {
  cities(
    where: {location: {
      _cast: {geography: {
        _st_d_within: {from: $point, distance: $distance}
      }}
    }}
  ) {
    name
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "point": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [1, 50]
  },
  "distance": 1000000
}
Example: cast ``geography`` to ``geometry``
Columns of type geography are more accurate, but they don’t support as many operations as
geometry. Cast to geometry to use those operations in a filter:
query cities_inside($polygon: geometry) {
  cities(
    where: {location: {
      _cast: {geometry: {
        _st_within: $polygon
      }}
    }}
  ) {
    name
  }
}
with variables:
{
  "polygon": {
    "type": "Polygon",
    "crs": {
      "type": "name",
      "properties": { "name": "EPSG:4326" }
    },
    "coordinates": [
      [
        [-75, 40],
        [-74, 40],
        [-74, 41],
        [-75, 41],
        [-75, 40]
      ]
    ]
  }
}
Note
For performant queries that filter on casted fields, create an
expression index
on the casted column. For example, if you frequently perform queries on a field location of
type geometry casted to type geography, you should create an index like the following:
CREATE INDEX cities_location_geography ON cities USING GIST ((location::geography));
The TRUE expression ( { } )¶
The expression {} evaluates to true if an object exists (even if it’s null).
For example:
- any query with the condition { where: {} }will return all objects without applying any filter.
- any query with the condition { where: { nested_object: {} } }will return all objects for which atleast onenested_objectexists.
Evaluation of null values in comparision expressions¶
If in any comparision expression a null (or undefined) value is passed, the expression currently gets
reduced to {} (TRUE expression)
For example, the expression { where: { _eq: null } } will be reduced to { where: {} }
