Skip to content
Inviting nominations for the Champions of Scale - Nominate a leader building internet-scale data infastructure today! Nominate someone
Aerospike Graph ( latest 3.0.0 )
/Develop/Data loading/CSV format

CSV format for source data files

Overview

Source files for bulk data loading into Aerospike Graph Service (AGS) use the comma-separated values (CSV) format described here.

Header rows

Each CSV file has a comma-separated header row. Header rows must contain no spaces between delimited columns.

Vertex data file headers

HeaderRequired?Description
~idYesUnique ID for the vertex. ~id values may be of data type String or Long. Number values must be positive whole numbers.
~labelNoLabel for the vertex. If ~label is not specified, the bulk loader adds a default value of vertex for the ~label field.

Edge data file headers

HeaderRequired?Description
~fromYesVertex ID of the from vertex.
~toYesVertex ID of the to vertex.
~labelNoLabel for the edge. Each edge can have only one label. If ~label is not specified, the bulk loader adds a default value of edge for the ~label field.

Property column headers

Specify a header for each data column with the format propertyName:type:cardinality.

  • propertyName is the name for the property.
  • type is an optional specifier for the data type and defaults to String if not provided.
  • cardinality is an optional specifier to indicate that the property contains multiple values.

If no type or cardinality is specified, the value is treated as a single String.

Examples of valid headers:

HeaderValue format
propertyNameSingle String value
propertyName:string:listMultiple String values
propertyName:intSingle Int value
propertyName:int:listMultiple Int values

Header considerations:

  • If a property name includes colons, you must specify both a type and cardinality. For example: yyyy:mm:dd:string:single.

  • If you specify a cardinality, you must also specify a data type.

  • Data type and cardinality header elements are case-insensitive.

Allowable data types

The following data types are allowed:

Data typeAllowable values
Bool or Booleantrue, false
Int or Integer-2^31 to 2^31-1
Long-2^63 to 2^63-1
Double64-bit IEEE 754 floating point
StringAny string value. Quotation marks are optional.
DateValues must be in ISO-8601 format (for example, YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS, YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ)

Property column values

The value in a row for an edge or vertex file underneath the specified column header is taken as-is if the header indicates a single value. Multiple values are delimited with the ; character.

If you specify multiple values for a property:

  • Ensure the header of the value has cardinality set to list. Example: propertyName:int:list.
  • Multiple values are separated by the ; character in the CSV file.
  • Multiple string values are allowed, but the semicolon character cannot be escaped when the value is multiple strings.

Vertex property multi-values

If you specify multiple values underneath a vertex property header in your CSV file, the resulting vertex has values for the property key that adhere to the TinkerPop multi-properties standard. For example, imagine a graph of baseball players with a vertex named Shohei Ohtani. It could have a property named hasPlayedFor with the CSV value Angels;Dodgers. The resulting vertex has the following properties:

  • Property 1 hasPlayedFor: Angels
  • Property 2 hasPlayedFor: Dodgers

Edge property multi-values

If you specify multiple values underneath an edge property header with the list element in your CSV file, the resulting edge has a property where the multiple values are contained in a list. For example, imagine a graph of baseball players with an edge called teams. It could have the CSV value Yankees;Giants;Mariners. The resulting edge has a property with key teams and the value [Yankees, Giants, Mariners].

Data row elements

Rows must contain no spaces between delimited elements.

ElementDescription
DelimiterFields are separated by commas. Records are separated by a newline or a newline followed by a carriage return.
Blank fieldsNon-required columns may be left blank. Blank fields still require comma separators.
Vertex IDsThe ~id value must be unique for all vertices in every vertex file.
Edge IDsUser-provided ~id values for edges are not supported, so the ~id column is optional for edge CSV files. If your CSV file contains an ~id column, the values are ignored.
LabelsLabels are case sensitive.
String valuesSurrounding string values with quotation marks is optional. Commas, newline, and carriage return characters are automatically escaped if they are included in a string surrounded by double quotation marks.

CSV format specification

The CSV file format follows the RFC 4180 CSV specification, including the following requirements.

  • Both Unix and Windows-style line endings are supported (\n or \r\n).

  • Any field may be surrounded with double quotation marks (").

  • Fields containing a line-break, double-quote, or commas must be quoted. If they are not, the load process errors out immediately.

  • Blank fields are allowed. A blank field is considered an empty value.

  • For list type columns, semicolons are used as list item delimiters.

For more information, see Common Format and MIME Type for CSV Files on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) website.

Data file examples

The following example vertex and edge data files illustrate an example graph of university student records.

Vertex file

The CourseNum field in the following example has no specified data type in the header row, so it defaults to type String and the data values are all stored as strings.

Data file:

~id,Name:String,Scores:Int:list,Topic:String,Passed:Boolean,CourseNum
v1,"Bob Warner",32;67;21,"Physics",false,201
v2,"Gloria Mendes",41;85;92,"Music",true,"Three Hundred"
v3,"Susan Wolff",77;42;51,"Biology",false,330
v4,"James Halford",67;62;89,"Physics",true,101
v5,"Frieda Wolinsky",57;71;94,"Biology",true,"Two Forty"
v6,"Amy Cheng",28;59;73,"Music",false,101
v7,"Zack Hulot",59;77;93,"History",true,220
v8,"Rafael Kubelik",67;35;28,"History",false,"First Year Seminar"
v9,"Leah Starke",66;82;79,"Biology",true,330
v10,"Amber Florian",68;71;96,"Music",true,102

Tabular view of data:

~idNameScoresTopicPassedCourseNum
v1”Bob Warner”32, 67, 21”Physics”false”201”
v2”Gloria Mendes”32, 67, 21”Music”true”Three Hundred”
v3”Susan Wolff”77, 42, 51”Biology”false”330”
v4”James Halford”67, 62, 89”Physics”true”101”
v5”Frieda Wolinsky”57, 71, 94”Biology”true”Two Forty”
v6”Amy Cheng”28, 59, 73”Music”false”101”
v7”Zack Hulot”59, 77, 93”History”true”220”
v8”Rafael Kubelik”67, 35, 28”History”false”First Year Seminar”
v9”Leah Starke”66, 82, 79”Biology”true”330”
v10”Amber Florian”68, 71, 96”Music”true”102”

Edge file

Data file:

~from,~to,~label,weight:Double
v1,v6,connected,0.7
v2,v9,connected,0.7
v3,v2,connected,0.7
v4,v8,connected,0.7
v5,v3,connected,0.7
v6,v4,connected,0.7
v7,v9,connected,0.7
v8,v1,connected,0.7
v9,v10,connected,0.7
v10,v3,connected,0.7

Tabular view of data:

~id~from~tolabelweight
(Auto-generated by AGS)v1v6”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v2v9”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v3v2”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v4v8”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v5v3”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v6v4”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v7v9”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v8v1”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v9v10”connected”0.7
(Auto-generated by AGS)v10v3”connected”0.7

Directory structure

Source data files must be stored in directories specified by the aerospike.graphloader.vertices and aerospike.graphloader.edges configuration options.

  • The directory specified in aerospike.graphloader.vertices must contain one or more subdirectories of vertex CSV files.

  • The directory specified in aerospike.graphloader.edges must contain one or more subdirectories of edge CSV files.

  • The CSV files in any one subdirectory must all contain the same row format, with the same header rows.

Directory structure examples

Local files example

The following examples illustrate the directory structures for local files.

  • Data directory: /opt/aerospike/graph/data

  • Vertex directory: /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices

    • The aerospike.graphloader.vertices configuration option must be set to /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices.

  • Vertex CSV subdirectory 1: /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir1

    • All CSV files in the vert_dir1 subdirectory must have the same row format.

  • Vertex CSV subdirectory 2: /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir2

    • All CSV files in the vert_dir2 subdirectory must have the same row format.

  • Edge directory: /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges

    • The aerospike.graphloader.edges configuration option must be set to /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges.

  • Edge CSV subdirectory 1: /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges/edge_dir1

    • All CSV files in the edge_dir1 subdirectory must have the same row format.

Visual representation of the directory structure:

/opt/aerospike/graph/data
|
---- /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/
|
-------- /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir1
|
------------ /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir1/vert_file1.csv
------------ /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir1/vert_file2.csv
|
-------- /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir2
|
------------ /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir2/vert_file3.csv
------------ /opt/aerospike/graph/data/vertices/vert_dir2/vert_file4.csv
|
---- /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges/
|
-------- /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges/edge_dir1
|
------------ /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges/edge_dir1/edge_file1.csv
------------ /opt/aerospike/graph/data/edges/edge_dir1/edge_file2.csv

Cloud storage files example

The following example illustrates the directory structure for a set of CSV files stored in Amazon S3 storage.

  • S3 bucket: my-bucket

  • Vertex directory: /my-bucket/vertices

    • The aerospike.graphloader.vertices configuration option must be set to s3://<bucket-name>/vertices.

  • Vertex CSV subdirectory 1: /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir1

    • All CSV files in the vert_dir1 subdirectory must have the same row format.

  • Vertex CSV subdirectory 2: /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir2

    • All CSV files in the vert_dir2 subdirectory must have the same row format.

  • Edge directory: /my-bucket/edges

    • The aerospike.graphloader.edges configuration option must be set to s3://<bucket-name>/edges.

  • Edge CSV subdirectory 1: /my-bucket/vertices/edge_dir1

    • All CSV files in the edge_dir1 subdirectory must have the same row format.

Visual representation of the directory structure:

/my-bucket
|
---- /my-bucket/vertices/
|
-------- /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir1/
|
------------ /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir1/vert_file1.csv
------------ /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir1/vert_file2.csv
|
-------- /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir2/
|
------------ /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir2/vert_file3.csv
------------ /my-bucket/vertices/vert_dir2/vert_file4.csv
|
---- /my-bucket/edges/
|
-------- /my-bucket/edges/edge_dir1/
|
------------ /my-bucket/edges/edge_dir1/edge_file1.csv
------------ /my-bucket/edges/edge_dir1/edge_file2.csv
Feedback

Was this page helpful?

What type of feedback are you giving?

What would you like us to know?

+Capture screenshot

Can we reach out to you?