EXPIRE - Upstash Documentation

Use EXPIRE to give a key a lifetime in seconds, after which the key is deleted automatically. Whether the expiration survives later writes depends on the command: replacing the value with SET clears it, while commands that modify a value in place, such as INCR, LPUSH or HSET, leave it untouched. A negative lifetime deletes the key immediately. The optional condition decides when the new expiration is applied: NX only when the key currently has none, XX only when it already has one, GT only when the new expiration is later than the current one, and LT only when it is earlier. Since a key without an expiration counts as living forever, GT never adds one and LT always does. The reply is 1 when the expiration was set and 0 when the key does not exist or the condition was not met. Read the remaining lifetime with TTL and remove it again with PERSIST.

Syntax

EXPIRE <key> <seconds> [NX | XX | GT | LT]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Repeatable	Description
`<key>`	Yes	No	Redis key targeted by the command.
`<seconds>`	Yes	No	Lifetime in seconds.
`(NX \| XX \| GT \| LT)`	No	No	Choose one form: `NX` (only when the key has no expiration); `XX` (only when the key already has one); `GT` (only when the new expiration is later than the current one); `LT` (only when it is earlier).

Important points

NX cannot be combined with XX, GT, or LT, and GT and LT cannot be used together.
A key with no expiration counts as an infinite one, so GT never sets an expiration on such a key and LT always does.

Response

The reply reports the result of the operation. Error replies have the same shape in RESP2 and RESP3 and are surfaced as exceptions by the SDKs below.

Protocol	Reply
RESP2	Integer: `1` if the timeout was set, `0` otherwise
RESP3	Integer: `1` if the timeout was set, `0` otherwise

Client libraries often decode bulk strings, maps, sets, and numeric strings into language-native values. The table describes the Redis wire reply.

Examples

TCP examples use the TLS REDIS_URL from the Upstash console. REST examples use UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL and UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN.

Redis CLI

EXPIRE my-key 1000

@upstash/redis

import { Redis } from "@upstash/redis";

const redis = Redis.fromEnv();

await redis.set("mykey", "Hello");
await redis.expire("mykey", 10);

upstash_redis

from upstash_redis import Redis

redis = Redis.from_env()
result = redis.expire("my-key", 1000)
print(result)

ioredis

import Redis from "ioredis";

const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL!);
const result = await redis.expire("my-key", "1000");
console.log(result);

node-redis

import { createClient } from "redis";

const client = await createClient({ url: process.env.REDIS_URL })
  .on("error", console.error)
  .connect();
const result = await client.expire("my-key", 1000);
console.log(result);

redis-py

import os
import redis

client = redis.from_url(os.environ["REDIS_URL"])
result = client.expire("my-key", 1000)
print(result)

go-redis

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "time"

    "github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
)

func main() {
    opts, err := redis.ParseURL(os.Getenv("REDIS_URL"))
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    client := redis.NewClient(opts)
    result, err := client.Expire(context.Background(), "my-key", 1000*time.Second).Result()
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Println(result)
}

jedis

import java.net.URI;

import redis.clients.jedis.Jedis;

try (Jedis jedis = new Jedis(new URI(System.getenv("REDIS_URL")))) {
  Object result = jedis.expire("my-key", 1000);
  System.out.println(result);
}

redis-rs

use redis::TypedCommands;

fn main() -> redis::RedisResult<()> {
    let url = std::env::var("REDIS_URL").expect("REDIS_URL is not set");
    let client = redis::Client::open(url)?;
    let mut connection = client.get_connection()?;

    let result = connection.expire("my-key", 1000)?;
    println!("{result:?}");
    Ok(())
}

​Syntax

​Arguments

​Important points

​Response

​Examples

Syntax

Arguments

Important points

Response

Examples