Neptune overwrites blank node values when inserting data

Question

When inserting a triple with a blank node into an Amazon Neptune instance:

```
INSERT DATA {   _:something }
```

…the blank node's value gets replaced with b. Running a query like this:

```
SELECT ?o WHERE {   ?o }
```

…will return something like this:

```
{
    "results": {
        "bindings": [
            {
                "o": {
                    "type": "bnode",
                    "value": "b24508943"
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}
```

Is there a way to retain original blank node names when loading data into Neptune?

Answer

The idea of blank nodes is that _they are not addressable_ (from "outside"). If you need something you can address (i.e., "point to") later, you should give it a URI.  
  
If you have a blank node that serves as the subject of some statements, you might be able to find those statements if some other statement uses that blank node as well (e.g., as its object). That is, you could use a query to find them. Otherwise, use a URI.

Answer

That is by RDF design:  
  
_Blank node identifiers are local identifiers that are used in some concrete RDF syntaxes or RDF store implementations. They are always locally scoped to the file or RDF store, and are not persistent or portable identifiers for blank nodes._

Neptune overwrites blank node values when inserting data

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