Attribute Names

• Attribute names starting with an underscore are considered to be systemattributes for ArangoDB’s internal use. Such attribute names are already usedby ArangoDB for special purposes:
  • _id is used to contain a document’s handle
  • _key is used to contain a document’s user-defined key
  • In edge collections, the
    • _from
    • _toattributes are used to reference other documents.

More system attributes may be added in the future without further notice soend users should try to avoid using their own attribute names starting withunderscores.

• Attribute names starting with an at-mark (@) will need to be enclosed inbackticks when used in an AQL query to tell them apart from bind variables.Therefore we do not encourage the use of attributes starting with at-marks,though they will work when used properly.
• ArangoDB does not enforce a length limit for attribute names. However, longattribute names may use more memory in result sets etc. Therefore the useof long attribute names is discouraged.
• Attribute names are case-sensitive.