arangoexport Examples

arangoexport can be invoked by executing the following command in a command line:

arangoexport --collection test --output-directory "dump"

This exports the test collection into the dump directory as one big JSON array. Every entry in this array is one document from the collection without a specific order. To export more than one collection at a time specify multiple --collection options.

The default output directory is export.

arangoexport will by default connect to the _system database using the default endpoint. If you want to connect to a different database or a different endpoint, or use authentication, you can use the following command-line options:

• --server.database <string>: name of the database to connect to
• --server.endpoint <string>: endpoint to connect to
• --server.username <string>: username
• --server.password <string>: password to use (omit this and you’ll be prompted for the password)
• --server.authentication <bool>: whether or not to use authentication

Here is an example of exporting data from a non-standard endpoint, using a dedicated database name:

arangoexport \
  --server.endpoint tcp://192.168.173.13:8531 \
  --server.username backup \
  --server.database mydb \
  --collection test \
  --output-directory "my-export"

When finished, arangoexport will print out a summary line with some aggregate statistics about what it did, e.g.:

Processed 2 collection(s), wrote 9031763 Byte(s), 78 HTTP request(s)

Export JSON

arangoexport --type json --collection test

This exports the test collection into the export output directory as one JSON array. Every array entry is one document from the test collection.

Export JSONL

arangoexport --type jsonl --collection test

This exports the test collection into the export output directory as JSONL. Every line in the export is one document from the test collection as JSON.

Export CSV

arangoexport --type csv --collection test --fields _key,_id,_rev

This exports the test collection into the export output directory as CSV. The first line contains the header with all field names. Each line is one document represented as CSV and separated with a comma. Objects and arrays are represented as a JSON string.

Starting with ArangoDB version 3.8.5, string values in the CSV output will be enclosed in double quotes. If any string value starts with one of the following characters: +, =, @, -, it is treated as a potential formula and will be prefixed by an extra single quote. This is done to prevent formula injection attacks in spreadsheet programs such as MS Excel or OpenOffice. If you don’t want to use this functionality, you can turn it off via the --escape-csv-formulae option.

Export XML

arangoexport --type xml --collection test

This exports the test collection into the export output directory as generic XML. The root element of the generated XML file is named collection. Each document in the collection is exported in a doc XML attribute. Each document attribute is exported as a generic att element, which has a name attribute with the attribute name, a type attribute indicating the attribute value type, and a value attribute containing the attribute’s value.

Export XGMML

XGMML is an XML application based on GML. To view the XGMML file you can use for example Cytoscape.

{ "rank": 1 }   // doc1
{ "rank": "2" } // doc2

{ "rank": 1 } // doc1
{ "rank": 2 } // doc2

XGMML-specific options

--xgmml-label-attribute specify the name of the attribute that will become the label in the XGMML file.

--xgmml-label-only set to true will only export the label without any attributes in edges or nodes.

Export based on collections

arangoexport \
  --type xgmml \
  --graph-name mygraph \
  --collection vertex \
  --collection edge

This exports an unnamed graph with the vertex collection named vertex and the edge collection named edge into the mygraph.xgmml XGMML file.

Export based on a named graph

arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph

This exports the named graph mygraph into the mygraph.xgmml XGMML file.

Export XGMML without attributes

arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph --xgmml-label-only true

This exports the named graph mygraph into the mygraph.xgmml XGMML file without the <att> tag in nodes and edges.

Export XGMML with a specific label

arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph --xgmml-label-attribute name

This exports the named graph mygraph into the mygraph.xgmml XGMML file with a label from documents attribute name instead of the default attribute label.

Export via AQL query

Exporting via an AQL query allows you to export the returned data as the type specified with --type.

The example exports all books as JSONL that are sold more than 100 times:

arangoexport \
    --type jsonl \
    --custom-query "FOR book IN books FILTER book.sold > 100 RETURN book"

A --fields list is required for CSV exports, but you can use an AQL query to produce these fields. For example, you can de-normalize document structures like arrays and nested objects to a tabular form as demonstrated below:

arangoexport \
  --type csv \
  --fields title,category1,category2 \
  --custom-query "FOR book IN books RETURN { title: book.title, category1: book.categories[0], category2: book.categories[1] }"

The --custom-query-bindvars option lets you set bind variables that you can use in the --custom-query option:

arangoexport \
  --type jsonl \
  --custom-query 'FOR book IN @@@@collectionName FILTER book.sold > @@sold RETURN book' \
  --custom-query-bindvars '{"@@collectionName": "books", "sold": 100}'

Note that you need to escape at signs in command-lines by doubling them (see Environment variables as parameters).

You can save a query to a file and use it as a custom query with the --custom-query-file option. It is mutually exclusive with the --custom-query option:

// example.aql
FOR book IN @@collectionName
  FILTER book.sold > @sold
  RETURN book

arangoexport --custom-query-file example.aql

You can optionally limit the query runtime via the --custom-query-max-runtime option. Specify the maximum query runtime in seconds. Set it to 0 for no limit, to override the default --query.max-runtime of the server (if set).

arangoexport \
  --type jsonl \
  --custom-query-max-runtime 10 \
  --custom-query "FOR book IN books FILTER book.sold > 100 RETURN book"