---
title: Cypher Clauses Reference
url: https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses
description: Clauses are the pipeline building pieces of Cypher. They define how rows are created, narrowed, transformed, ordered, mutated, or handed to procedures.
---

# Cypher Clauses Reference

## Consumer View

Clauses are the pipeline-building pieces of Cypher. They define how rows are created, narrowed, transformed, ordered, mutated, or handed to procedures.

If functions answer “how do I transform this value?”, clauses answer:

-   where do the rows come from
-   how do they get filtered
-   how do they get reshaped
-   when do writes happen
-   where do procedures or schema changes fit

## Main Clause Families

-   [Reading](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/reading)
-   [Ordering And Paging](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/ordering-and-paging)
-   [Writing](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/writing)
-   [Procedural](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/procedural)
-   [Time](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/time)
-   [Statement Forms](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/statement-forms)
-   [Schema And Admin](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/schema-and-admin)
-   [Pattern Features](https://nexyron.tech/docs/cypher/clauses/pattern-features)

## How To Read The Clause Docs

The most important thing is not memorizing keywords in isolation. It is understanding where each clause sits in the execution flow.

Examples:

-   `MATCH`, `OPTIONAL MATCH`, `WHERE`, `WITH`, and `RETURN` define the normal row pipeline
-   `ASOF`, `TIME`, `VALID`, `LATEST`, `WINDOW`, and `ALIGN` extend that pipeline with temporal semantics
-   `CALL` and `CALL { ... }` bring procedures and subqueries back into the same row flow
-   `CREATE`, `MERGE`, `SET`, `REMOVE`, `DELETE`, and `FOREACH` express writes
-   statement forms such as scripts, `FROM PREVIOUS`, `UNION`, `EXPLAIN`, and `PROFILE` control how whole statements are combined, inspected, or staged
-   schema/admin clauses define indexes, constraints, graph typing, and time-series declarations