Some use cases require updating node (or relationship) properties, but returning the node (or relationship) as it was prior to the update.
You'll need to get a 'snapshot' of the node before the update, and return that snapshot instead of the node itself.
Neo4j 3.1 and above
You can use map projection to get your node snapshot:
MATCH (p:Person{name:'Keanu Reeves'})
WITH p, p {.*} as snapshot
SET p.name = 'The One'
RETURN snapshot
The returned map result will still have the name property set to 'Keanu Reeves'.
Note that the result is a map, not a node, so node id and labels are not included in the returned data.
Returning an explicit null value
If you need to explicitly show a missing field (in the snapshot) as a null value in Neo4j 3.1 or above, you can also solve this with map projection by explicitly including the field in the projection.
MATCH (p:Person{name:'Keanu Reeves'})
WITH p, p {.*, .lastUpdated} as snapshot
SET p.lastUpdated = TIMESTAMP()
RETURN snapshot
If the lastUpdated property didn't exist on the node, it will still be returned in the map with a null value instead of not appearing at all.
Neo4j 3.0 and below
Map projection isn't available, so use properties() instead.
MATCH (p:Person{name:'Keanu Reeves'})
WITH p, properties(p) as snapshot
SET p.name = 'The One'
RETURN snapshot
The returned map result will still have the name property set to 'Keanu Reeves'.
Note that the result is a map, not a node, so node id and labels are not included in the returned data.
Returning an explicit null value
If you need to explicitly show a missing field (in the snapshot) as a null value in Neo4j 3.0, you'll need to use the map helper functions of APOC Procedures.
MATCH (p:Person{name:'Keanu Reeves'})
WITH p, properties(p) as props
CALL apoc.map.setKey(props, 'lastUpdated', null) YIELD value as snapshot
SET p.lastUpdated = timestamp()
RETURN snapshot
If the lastUpdated property didn't exist on the node, it will still be returned in the map with a null value instead of not appearing at all.
