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layout: default
description: arangoexport can be invoked by executing the following command in a command line
---
Arangoexport Examples
=====================

_arangoexport_ can be invoked by executing the following command in a command line:

    arangoexport --collection test --output-directory "dump"

This exports the collections *test* into the directory *dump* as one big json array. Every entry
in this array is one document from the collection without a specific order. To export more than
one collection at a time specify multiple *--collection* options.

The default output directory is *export*.

_arangoexport_ will by default connect to the *_system* database using the default
endpoint. If you want to connect to a different database or a different endpoint, 
or use authentication, you can use the following command-line options:

- *--server.database <string>*: name of the database to connect to
- *--server.endpoint <string>*: endpoint to connect to
- *--server.username <string>*: username
- *--server.password <string>*: password to use (omit this and you'll be prompted for the
  password)
- *--server.authentication <bool>*: whether or not to use authentication

Here's an example of exporting data from a non-standard endpoint, using a dedicated
[database name](appendix-glossary.html#database-name):

    arangoexport --server.endpoint tcp://192.168.173.13:8531 --server.username backup --server.database mydb --collection test --output-directory "my-export"

When finished, _arangoexport_ will print out a summary line with some aggregate 
statistics about what it did, e.g.:

    Processed 2 collection(s), wrote 9031763 Byte(s), 78 HTTP request(s)


Export JSON
-----------

    arangoexport --type json --collection test

This exports the collection *test* into the output directory *export* as one json array.
Every array entry is one document from the collection *test*

Export JSONL
------------

    arangoexport --type jsonl --collection test

This exports the collection *test* into the output directory *export* as [JSONL](http://jsonlines.org){:target="_blank"}.
Every line in the export is one document from the collection *test* as JSON.

Export CSV
----------

    arangoexport --type csv --collection test --fields _key,_id,_rev

This exports the collection *test* into the output directory *export* as CSV. The first
line contains the header with all field names. Each line is one document represented as
CSV and separated with a comma. Objects and arrays are represented as a JSON string.


Export XML
----------

    arangoexport --type xml --collection test

This exports the collection *test* into the output directory *export* as generic XML.
The root element of the generated XML file is named *collection*.
Each document in the collection is exported in a *doc* XML attribute.
Each document attribute is exported as a generic *att* element, which has a
*name* attribute with the attribute name, a *type* attribute indicating the
attribute value type, and a *value* attribute containing the attribute's value.

Export XGMML
------------

[XGMML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XGMML){:target="_blank"} is an XML application
based on [GML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_Modelling_Language){:target="_blank"}.
To view the XGMML file you can use for example [Cytoscape](http://cytoscape.org){:target="_blank"}.


{% hint 'warning' %}
If you export all attributes (*--xgmml-label-only false*) note that attribute types have to be the same for all documents. It wont work if you have an attribute named rank that is in one document a string and in another document an integer.

Bad

    { "rank": 1 }   // doc1
    { "rank": "2" } // doc2

Good

    { "rank": 1 } // doc1
    { "rank": 2 } // doc2

{% endhint %}

**XGMML specific options**

*--xgmml-label-attribute* specify the name of the attribute that will become the label in the xgmml file.

*--xgmml-label-only* set to true will only export the label without any attributes in edges or nodes.


**Export based on collections**

    arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph --collection vertex --collection edge

This exports an unnamed graph with vertex collection *vertex* and edge collection *edge* into the xgmml file *mygraph.xgmml*.


**Export based on a named graph**

    arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph

This exports the named graph mygraph into the xgmml file *mygraph.xgmml*.


**Export XGMML without attributes**

    arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph --xgmml-label-only true

This exports the named graph mygraph into the xgmml file *mygraph.xgmml* without the *&lt;att&gt;* tag in nodes and edges.


**Export XGMML with a specific label**

    arangoexport --type xgmml --graph-name mygraph --xgmml-label-attribute name

This exports the named graph mygraph into the xgmml file *mygraph.xgmml* with a label from documents attribute *name* instead of the default attribute *label*.

Export via AQL query
--------------------

    arangoexport --type jsonl --query "FOR book IN books FILTER book.sells > 100 RETURN book"

Export via an AQL query allows you to export the returned data as the type specified with *--type*.
The example exports all books as JSONL that are sold more than 100 times.

    arangoexport --type csv --fields title,category1,category2 --query "FOR book IN books RETURN { title: book.title, category1: book.categories[0], category2: book.categories[1] }"

A *fields* list is required for CSV exports, but you can use an AQL query to produce
these fields. For example, you can de-normalize document structures like arrays and
nested objects to a tabular form as demonstrated above.