apoc.refactor.invert

Details
Syntax	`apoc.refactor.invert(rel, config) :: (input, output, error)`
Description	Inverts the direction of the given `RELATIONSHIP`.
Input arguments	Name	Type	Description
	`rel`	`RELATIONSHIP`	The relationship to reverse.
	`config`	`MAP`	`{ failOnErrors = false :: BOOLEAN }`. Note that while `{ failOnErrors = true }` is recommended to ensure transactional consistency and prevent a partial application of changes, it is not the default since this would risk breaking existing implementations. Introduced in APOC 2025.01
Return arguments	Name	Type	Description
	`input`	`INTEGER`	The internal id of the original entity.
	`output`	`RELATIONSHIP`	The copied entity.
	`error`	`STRING`	Any error that occurred during the copy process.

Usage Examples

The examples in this section are based on the following sample graph:

CREATE (mark:Person {name: "Mark", city: "London"})
CREATE (jennifer:Person {name: "Jennifer", city: "St Louis"})
CREATE (mark)-[:FOLLOWS]->(jennifer);

The following inverts the FOLLOWS relationship, making Jennifer the start node using APOC and Cypher:

apoc.refactor.invert

MATCH ()-[rel:FOLLOWS]->()
CALL apoc.refactor.invert(rel, { failOnErrors = true })
YIELD input, output
RETURN input, output;

Using Cypher

MATCH (startNode)-[rel:FOLLOWS]->(endNode)
CALL (*) {
    WITH id(rel) AS oldId, properties(rel) AS relProps, type(rel) AS relType
    DELETE rel
    MERGE (startNode)<-[newRel:$(relType)]-(endNode)
    SET newRel = relProps
    RETURN oldId AS oldId, newRel AS newRel
}
RETURN oldId, newRel;

Results
input	output
14	[:FOLLOWS]

We can list all the Person nodes by running the following query:

MATCH path = ()-[rel:FOLLOWS]->()
RETURN path;

Results
path
(:Person {name: "Jennifer", city: "St Louis"})-[:FOLLOWS]→(:Person {name: "Mark", city: "London"})

APOC is not inverting the type; instead, it adds a new relationship with the desired direction and deletes the original.

More documentation of apoc.refactor.invert