Querying the Dataset

When querying a collection of graphs, the GRAPH keyword is used to match patterns against named graphs. GRAPH can provide an IRI to select one graph or use a variable which will range over the IRI of all the named graphs in the query's RDF dataset.

The use of GRAPH changes the active graph for matching graph patterns within that part of the query. Outside the use of GRAPH, matching is done using the default graph.

The following two graphs will be used in examples:

# Named graph: http://example.org/foaf/aliceFoaf
@prefix  foaf:     <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix  rdf:      <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix  rdfs:     <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

_:a  foaf:name     "Alice" .
_:a  foaf:mbox     <mailto:alice@work.example> .
_:a  foaf:knows    _:b .

_:b  foaf:name     "Bob" .
_:b  foaf:mbox     <mailto:bob@work.example> .
_:b  foaf:nick     "Bobby" .
_:b  rdfs:seeAlso  <http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf> .

<http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>
     rdf:type      foaf:PersonalProfileDocument .

# Named graph: http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf
@prefix  foaf:     <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix  rdf:      <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix  rdfs:     <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

_:z  foaf:mbox     <mailto:bob@work.example> .
_:z  rdfs:seeAlso  <http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf> .
_:z  foaf:nick     "Robert" .

<http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>
     rdf:type      foaf:PersonalProfileDocument .

Any triple in Alice's FOAF file giving Bob's nick is not used to provide a nick for Bob because the pattern involving variable nick is restricted by ppd to a particular Personal Profile Document.

Accessing Graph Names

The query below matches the graph pattern against each of the named graphs in the dataset and forms solutions which have the src variable bound to IRIs of the graph being matched. The graph pattern is matched with the active graph being each of the named graphs in the dataset.

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>

SELECT ?src ?bobNick
FROM NAMED <http://example.org/foaf/aliceFoaf>
FROM NAMED <http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>
WHERE
  {
    GRAPH ?src
    { ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:bob@work.example> .
      ?x foaf:nick ?bobNick
    }
  }

The query result gives the name of the graphs where the information was found and the value for Bob's nick:

src	bobNick
<http://example.org/foaf/aliceFoaf>	"Bobby"
<http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>	"Robert"

Restricting by Graph IRI

The query can restrict the matching applied to a specific graph by supplying the graph IRI. This sets the active graph to the graph named by the IRI. This query looks for Bob's nick as given in the graph http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf.

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX data: <http://example.org/foaf/>

SELECT ?nick
FROM NAMED <http://example.org/foaf/aliceFoaf>
FROM NAMED <http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>
WHERE
  {
     GRAPH data:bobFoaf {
         ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:bob@work.example> .
         ?x foaf:nick ?nick }
  }

which yields a single solution:

nick
"Robert"

Restricting Possible Graph IRIs

A variable used in the GRAPH clause may also be used in another GRAPH clause or in a graph pattern matched against the default graph in the dataset.

The query below uses the graph with IRI http://example.org/foaf/aliceFoaf to find the profile document for Bob; it then matches another pattern against that graph. The pattern in the second GRAPH clause finds the blank node (variable w) for the person with the same mail box (given by variable mbox) as found in the first GRAPH clause (variable whom), because the blank node used to match for variable whom from Alice's FOAF file is not the same as the blank node in the profile document (they are in different graphs).

PREFIX  data:  <http://example.org/foaf/>
PREFIX  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX  rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>

SELECT ?mbox ?nick ?ppd
FROM NAMED <http://example.org/foaf/aliceFoaf>
FROM NAMED <http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>
WHERE
{
  GRAPH data:aliceFoaf
  {
    ?alice foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@work.example> ;
           foaf:knows ?whom .
    ?whom  foaf:mbox ?mbox ;
           rdfs:seeAlso ?ppd .
    ?ppd  a foaf:PersonalProfileDocument .
  } .
  GRAPH ?ppd
  {
      ?w foaf:mbox ?mbox ;
         foaf:nick ?nick
  }
}

mbox	nick	ppd
<mailto:bob@work.example>	"Robert"	<http://example.org/foaf/bobFoaf>

Named and Default Graphs

Query patterns can involve both the default graph and the named graphs. In this example, an aggregator has read in a Web resource on two different occasions. Each time a graph is read into the aggregator, it is given an IRI by the local system. The graphs are nearly the same but the email address for "Bob" has changed.

In this example, the default graph is being used to record the provenance information and the RDF data actually read is kept in two separate graphs, each of which is given a different IRI by the system. The RDF dataset consists of two named graphs and the information about them.

RDF Dataset:

# Default graph
@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix g:  <tag:example.org,2005-06-06:> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

g:graph1 dc:publisher "Bob" .
g:graph1 dc:date "2004-12-06"^^xsd:date .

g:graph2 dc:publisher "Bob" .
g:graph2 dc:date "2005-01-10"^^xsd:date .

# Graph: locally allocated IRI: tag:example.org,2005-06-06:graph1
@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

_:a foaf:name "Alice" .
_:a foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@work.example> .

_:b foaf:name "Bob" .
_:b foaf:mbox <mailto:bob@oldcorp.example.org> .

# Graph: locally allocated IRI: tag:example.org,2005-06-06:graph2
@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

_:a foaf:name "Alice" .
_:a foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@work.example> .

_:b foaf:name "Bob" .
_:b foaf:mbox <mailto:bob@newcorp.example.org> .

This query finds email addresses, detailing the name of the person and the date the information was discovered.

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX dc:   <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>

SELECT ?name ?mbox ?date
WHERE
  {  ?g dc:publisher ?name ;
        dc:date ?date .
    GRAPH ?g
      { ?person foaf:name ?name ; foaf:mbox ?mbox }
  }

The results show that the email address for "Bob" has changed.

name	mbox	date
"Bob"	<mailto:bob@oldcorp.example.org>	"2004-12-06"^^xsd:date
"Bob"	<mailto:bob@newcorp.example.org>	"2005-01-10"^^xsd:date