Record functions

Note

Record functions before SurrealDB 2.0 were located inside the module meta. Their behaviour has not changed.

These functions can be used to retrieve specific metadata from a SurrealDB Record ID.

Function	Description
`record::exists()`	Checks to see if a SurrealDB Record ID exists
`record::id()`	Extracts and returns the identifier from a SurrealDB Record ID
`record::tb()`	Extracts and returns the table name from a SurrealDB Record ID
`record::refs()`	Extracts and returns the record IDs of any records that have a record link along with a `REFERENCES` clause
`record::is_edge()`	Identifies whether the value passed in is a graph edge

`record::exists`

The record::exists function checks to see if a given record exists.

API DEFINITION

record::exists(record) -> bool

A simple example showing the output of this function when a record does not exist and when it does:

RETURN record::exists(r"person:tobie");
-- false

CREATE person:tobie;
RETURN record::exists(r"person:tobie");
-- true

A longer example of record::exists using method syntax:

FOR $person IN ["Haakon_VII", "Ferdinand_I", "Manuel_II", "Wilhelm_II", "George_I", "Albert_I", "Alfonso_XIII", "George_V", "Frederick_VIII"] {
    LET $record_name = type::record("person", $person.lowercase());
    IF !$record_name.exists() {
        CREATE $record_name;
    }
}

`record::id`

The record::id function extracts and returns the identifier from a SurrealDB Record ID.

API DEFINITION

record::id(record) -> value

The following example shows this function, and its output, when used in a RETURN statement:

RETURN record::id(person:tobie);

'tobie'

`record::tb`

The record::tb function extracts and returns the table name from a SurrealDB Record ID.

API DEFINITION

record::tb(record) -> string

The following example shows this function, and its output, when used in a RETURN statement:

RETURN record::tb(person:tobie);

-- 'person'

`record::is_edge`

The record::is_edge function checks to see if the value passed in is a graph edge.

API DEFINITION

record::is_edge(record | string) -> bool

RELATE person:one->likes:first_like->person:two;

-- Both return true
record::is_edge(likes:first_like);
record::is_edge("likes:first_like");

Method chaining

Method chaining allows functions to be called using the . dot operator on a value of a certain type instead of the full path of the function followed by the value.

-- Traditional syntax
record::id(r"person:aeon");

-- Method chaining syntax
r"person:aeon".id();

Response

'aeon'

This is particularly useful for readability when a function is called multiple times.

-- Traditional syntax
record::table(array::max([r"person:aeon", r"person:landevin"]));

-- Method chaining syntax
[r"person:aeon", r"person:landevin"].max().table();

Response

'person'