• SPARQL 1.1 is a set of languages and protocols to query and manipulate RDF graphs
• SPARQL 1.1 Query Language: query language for RDF
• SPARQL 1.1 Query Results Format (XML, JSON, CSV, TSV): description of four different formats to represent SPARQL query results
• SPARQL 1.1 Federated Query: specification for executing queries distributed over different SPARQL endpoints
• SPARQL 1.1 Entailment Regimes: defines the semantics of queries under different entailment regimes such as RDFS, OWL, RIF
• SPARQL 1.1 Update Language: specification for updating, creating, and removing RDF graphs

• SPARQL 1.1 Protocol: a protocol for conveying arbitrary SPARQL queries and updates to a SPARQL service
• SPARQL 1.1 Service Description: a specification for describing and discovering SPARQL services
• SPARQL 1.1 Graph Store HTTP Protocol: specification that defines minimal means of managing RDF graph content directly using HTTP operations
• SPARQL 1.1 Test Cases: test cases for identifying corner cases in the specification and assessing whether a system conforms to SPARQL 1.1

Data

<http://example.org/book/book1> <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title> "SPARQL Tutorial" . 

Query

SELECT ?title
WHERE
{
  <http://example.org/book/book1> <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title> ?title .
}

Result

Data

@prefix foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

_:a  foaf:name   "Johnny Lee Outlaw" .
_:a  foaf:mbox   <mailto:jlow@example.com> .
_:b  foaf:name   "Peter Goodguy" .
_:b  foaf:mbox   <mailto:peter@example.org> .
_:c  foaf:mbox   <mailto:carol@example.org> .

Query

PREFIX foaf:   <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
SELECT ?name ?mbox
WHERE
  { ?x foaf:name ?name .
    ?x foaf:mbox ?mbox }

Result

Data

@prefix dc:   <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix :     <http://example.org/book/> .
@prefix ns:   <http://example.org/ns#> .

:book1  dc:title  "SPARQL Tutorial" .
:book1  ns:price  42 .
:book1  ns:discount 0.2 .

:book2  dc:title  "The Semantic Web" .
:book2  ns:price  23 .
:book2  ns:discount 0.25 .

Query

PREFIX  dc:  <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
PREFIX  ns:  <http://example.org/ns#>
SELECT  ?title (?p*(1-?discount) AS ?price)
{ ?x ns:price ?p .
  ?x dc:title ?title . 
  ?x ns:discount ?discount 
}

Result

Data

@prefix org:    <http://example.com/ns#> .

_:a  org:employeeName   "Alice" .
_:a  org:employeeId     12345 .

_:b  org:employeeName   "Bob" .
_:b  org:employeeId     67890 .

Query

PREFIX foaf:   <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX org:    <http://example.com/ns#>

CONSTRUCT { ?x foaf:name ?name }
WHERE  { ?x org:employeeName ?name }

Result

@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
      
_:x foaf:name "Alice" .
_:y foaf:name "Bob" .

Data

@prefix  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

_:a    foaf:name   "Alice" .
_:a    foaf:mbox   <mailto:alice@example.org> .

Query

PREFIX foaf:    <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX vcard:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/vcard-rdf/3.0#>
CONSTRUCT   { <http://example.org/person#Alice> vcard:FN ?name }
WHERE       { ?x foaf:name ?name }

Result

@prefix vcard: <http://www.w3.org/2001/vcard-rdf/3.0#> .

<http://example.org/person#Alice> vcard:FN "Alice" .

Data

@prefix dc:   <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix :     <http://example.org/book/> .
@prefix ns:   <http://example.org/ns#> .

:book1  dc:title  "SPARQL Tutorial" .
:book1  ns:price  42 .
:book2  dc:title  "The Semantic Web" .
:book2  ns:price  23 .

Query

PREFIX  dc:  <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
SELECT  ?title
WHERE   { ?x dc:title ?title
          FILTER regex(?title, "^SPARQL") 
        }

Result

Query

PREFIX  dc:  <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
SELECT  ?title
WHERE   { ?x dc:title ?title
          FILTER regex(?title, "web", "i" ) 
        }

Result

Data

@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .

_:a  rdf:type        foaf:Person .
_:a  foaf:name       "Alice" .
_:a  foaf:mbox       <mailto:alice@example.com> .
_:a  foaf:mbox       <mailto:alice@work.example> .

_:b  rdf:type        foaf:Person .
_:b  foaf:name       "Bob" .

Query

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
SELECT ?name ?mbox
WHERE  { ?x foaf:name  ?name .
         OPTIONAL { ?x  foaf:mbox  ?mbox }
       }

Result

Data

@prefix dc:   <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix :     <http://example.org/book/> .
@prefix ns:   <http://example.org/ns#> .

:book1  dc:title  "SPARQL Tutorial" .
:book1  ns:price  42 .
:book2  dc:title  "The Semantic Web" .
:book2  ns:price  23 .

Query

PREFIX  dc:  <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
PREFIX  ns:  <http://example.org/ns#>
SELECT  ?title ?price
WHERE   { ?x dc:title ?title .
          OPTIONAL { ?x ns:price ?price . FILTER (?price < 30) }
        }

Result

Data

@prefix foaf:       <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

_:a  foaf:name       "Alice" .
_:a  foaf:homepage   <http://work.example.org/alice/> .

_:b  foaf:name       "Bob" .
_:b  foaf:mbox       <mailto:bob@work.example> .

Query

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
SELECT ?name ?mbox ?hpage
WHERE  { ?x foaf:name  ?name .
         OPTIONAL { ?x foaf:mbox ?mbox } .
         OPTIONAL { ?x foaf:homepage ?hpage }
       }

Result

Data

@prefix : <http://books.example/> .

:org1 :affiliates :auth1, :auth2 .
:auth1 :writesBook :book1, :book2 .
:book1 :price 9 .
:book2 :price 5 .
:auth2 :writesBook :book3 .
:book3 :price 7 .
:org2 :affiliates :auth3 .
:auth3 :writesBook :book4 .
:book4 :price 7 .

Query

PREFIX : <http://books.example/>
SELECT ?org (SUM(?lprice) AS ?totalPrice)
WHERE {
  ?org :affiliates ?auth .
  ?auth :writesBook ?book .
  ?book :price ?lprice .
}
GROUP BY ?org
HAVING (SUM(?lprice) > 10)

Result

Data

@prefix : <http://org.example/> .

:org1 :affiliates :p1, :p2, :p6 .
:org2 :affiliates :p3, :p4 .

:p1 :name "John" .
:p2 :name "Paul" .
:p6 :name "John" .
:p3 :name "Ringo" .
:p4 :name "George" .

Query

PREFIX : <http://books.example/>
SELECT ?org (GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT ?name;separator=', ') as ?names)
WHERE {?org :affiliates ?p. ?p :name ?name }
GROUP BY ?org

Result

• Alternatives: Match one or both possibilities

{ :book1 dc:title|rdfs:label ?displayString }

• Sequence: Find the name of any people that Alice knows

{
    ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@example> .
    ?x foaf:knows/foaf:name ?name .
}

• Sequence: Find the names of people two "foaf:knows" links away

{ 
    ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@example> .
    ?x foaf:knows/foaf:knows/foaf:name ?name .
}

This is the same as the SPARQL query:

SELECT ?x ?name
{
    ?x  foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@example> .
    ?x  foaf:knows ?a1 .
    ?a1 foaf:knows ?a2 .
    ?a2 foaf:name ?name .
}

• Filtering duplicates: someone Alice knows may well know Alice

{ ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@example> .
    ?x foaf:knows/foaf:knows ?y .
    FILTER ( ?x != ?y )
    ?y foaf:name ?name 
}

• Inverse Property Paths: following two queries are the same.
• Second query is just reversing the property direction which swaps the roles of subject and object

{ ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@example> }

{ <mailto:alice@example> ^foaf:mbox ?x }

• Inverse Path Sequence: Find all the people who know someone ?x knows

{
    ?x foaf:knows/^foaf:knows ?y .  
    FILTER(?x != ?y)
}

This is the same as the SPARQL query:

{
    ?x foaf:knows ?a .
    ?y foaf:knows ?a .  
    FILTER(?x != ?y)
}

• Arbitrary length match: Find the names of all the people that can be reached from Alice by foaf:knows

{
    ?x foaf:mbox <mailto:alice@example> .
    ?x foaf:knows+/foaf:name ?name .
}

• Alternatives in an arbitrary length path

{ ?ancestor (ex:motherOf|ex:fatherOf)+ <#me> }

• Inference: some form of limited inference is possible using property paths
• All resources and all their inferred types

{ ?x rdf:type/rdfs:subClassOf* ?type }

• Subproperty inference

{ ?x ?p ?v . ?p rdfs:subPropertyOf* :property }

• Negated Property Paths: Find nodes connected but not by rdf:type (either way round)

{ ?x !(rdf:type|^rdf:type) ?y }

• Find all the elements in an RDF collection

{ :list rdf:rest*/rdf:first ?element }

Data

@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

	_:a  foaf:name       "Alice" .
	_:a  foaf:homepage   <http://work.example.org/alice/> .

	_:b  foaf:name       "Bob" .
	_:b  foaf:mbox       <mailto:bob@work.example> .

Query

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
	ASK  { ?x foaf:name  "Alice" }

Result

true

Query

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
ASK  { ?x foaf:name  "Alice" ;
          foaf:mbox  <mailto:alice@work.example> }

Result

false

DESCRIBE <http://example.org/>

PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
	DESCRIBE ?x
	WHERE    { ?x foaf:name "Alice" }

Query

PREFIX ent:  <http://org.example.com/employees#>
DESCRIBE ?x WHERE { ?x ent:employeeId "1234" }

Result

@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix vcard:  <http://www.w3.org/2001/vcard-rdf/3.0> .
@prefix exOrg:  <http://org.example.com/employees#> .
@prefix rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix owl:  <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#>

_:a     exOrg:employeeId    "1234" ;
       
        foaf:mbox_sha1sum   "bee135d3af1e418104bc42904596fe148e90f033" ;
        vcard:N
         [ vcard:Family       "Smith" ;
           vcard:Given        "John"  ] .

foaf:mbox_sha1sum  rdf:type  owl:InverseFunctionalProperty .

Data

@prefix  :  <http://example/> .
@prefix  rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

:alice  rdf:type   foaf:Person .
:alice  foaf:name  "Alice" .
:bob    rdf:type   foaf:Person .

Query

PREFIX  rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> 
PREFIX  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> 

SELECT ?person
WHERE 
{
    ?person rdf:type  foaf:Person .
    FILTER EXISTS { ?person foaf:name ?name }
}

Result

• There are two ways of using negation in SPARQL
1. NOT EXISTS: tests for the absense of a pattern
2. MINUS: removes triples based on a pattern

NOT EXISTS

• Tests whether a graph pattern does not match the dataset
• Returns true/false and does not generate any additional bindings

Data

@prefix  :  <http://example/> .
@prefix  rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

:alice  rdf:type   foaf:Person .
:alice  foaf:name  "Alice" .
:bob    rdf:type   foaf:Person .

NOT EXISTS

Query

PREFIX  rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> 
PREFIX  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> 
SELECT ?person
WHERE 
{
    ?person rdf:type  foaf:Person .
    FILTER NOT EXISTS { ?person foaf:name ?name }
}

Result

MINUS

• Assuming the patterns that precede MINUS are left-hand side patterns and the one following MINUS are right-hand side patterns
• solutions in the LHS that are not compatible with solutions on the RHS are evaluated

Data

@prefix  :  <http://example/> .
@prefix  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .

:alice  foaf:givenName "Alice" ;
        foaf:familyName "Smith" .
:bob    foaf:givenName "Bob" ;
        foaf:familyName "Jones" .
:carol  foaf:givenName "Carol" ;
        foaf:familyName "Smith" .

MINUS

Query

PREFIX :  <http://example/> 
PREFIX  foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> 
SELECT DISTINCT ?s
WHERE {
   ?s ?p ?o .
   MINUS {
      ?s foaf:givenName "Bob" .
   }
}

Result

Data

@prefix : <http://people.example/> .

:alice :name "Alice", "Alice Foo", "A. Foo" .
:alice :knows :bob, :carol .
:bob :name "Bob", "Bob Bar", "B. Bar" .
:carol :name "Carol", "Carol Baz", "C. Baz" .

Query

PREFIX : <http://people.example/>
PREFIX : <http://people.example/>
SELECT ?y ?minName
WHERE {
  :alice :knows ?y .
  {
    SELECT ?y (MIN(?name) AS ?minName)
    WHERE {
      ?y :name ?name .
    } GROUP BY ?y
  }
}

Results of inner query

These are joined with the results of the outer query

Final Result