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Description

Set a timeout on a key. After the timeout has expired, the key will automatically be deleted.

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Method Signature

expire(key: string, seconds: number, option?: ExpireOption): Promise<0 | 1>

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Parameters

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key
string
required
The key to set expiration on
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seconds
number
required
The number of seconds until the key expires
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option
ExpireOption
Optional modifier for the expiration behavior:
  • "NX" - Set expiry only when the key has no expiry
  • "XX" - Set expiry only when the key has an existing expiry
  • "GT" - Set expiry only when the new expiry is greater than current one
  • "LT" - Set expiry only when the new expiry is less than current one
Case-insensitive (can use lowercase: "nx", "xx", "gt", "lt")

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Return Value

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result
0 | 1
  • 1 if the timeout was set
  • 0 if the timeout was not set (key doesn’t exist or condition not met)

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Examples

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Basic expiration

await redis.set("mykey", "value");
const result = await redis.expire("mykey", 10);
console.log(result); // 1

// Key will be deleted after 10 seconds

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Set expiry only if key has no expiry (NX)

await redis.set("mykey", "value");

const result1 = await redis.expire("mykey", 100, "NX");
console.log(result1); // 1 (set because key had no expiry)

const result2 = await redis.expire("mykey", 50, "NX");
console.log(result2); // 0 (not set because key already has expiry)

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Set expiry only if new expiry is greater (GT)

await redis.set("mykey", "value");
await redis.expire("mykey", 100);

const result1 = await redis.expire("mykey", 200, "GT");
console.log(result1); // 1 (200 > 100)

const result2 = await redis.expire("mykey", 50, "GT");
console.log(result2); // 0 (50 < 200)

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Non-existent key

const result = await redis.expire("nonexistent", 10);
console.log(result); // 0

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See Also

  • ttl - Get the time to live for a key
  • persist - Remove the expiration from a key

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