TTL

Returns the remaining time to live of a key that has a timeout. This introspection capability allows a Redis client to check how many seconds a given key will continue to be part of the dataset.

In Redis 2.6 or older the command returns -1 if the key does not exist or if the key exists but has no associated expire.

Starting with Redis 2.8 the return value in case of error changed:

• The command returns -2 if the key does not exist.
• The command returns -1 if the key exists but has no associated expire.

See also the [PTTL]({{< relref "/commands/pttl" >}}) command that returns the same information with milliseconds resolution (Only available in Redis 2.6 or greater).

Examples

{{< clients-example set="cmds_generic" step="ttl" description="Foundational: Check remaining time-to-live of a key using TTL (returns seconds remaining, -1 if no expiry, -2 if key doesn't exist)" difficulty="beginner" >}}

SET mykey "Hello" "OK" EXPIRE mykey 10 (integer) 1 TTL mykey (integer) 10 {{< /clients-example >}}

Give these commands a try in the interactive console:

{{% redis-cli %}} SET mykey "Hello" EXPIRE mykey 10 TTL mykey {{% /redis-cli %}}

Redis Software and Redis Cloud compatibility

| Redis Software | Redis Cloud | <span style="min-width: 9em; display: table-cell">Notes</span> | |:----------------------|:-----------------|:------| | <span title="Supported">✅ Standard</span> <span title="Supported"><nobr>✅ Active-Active</nobr></span> | <span title="Supported">✅ Standard</span> <span title="Supported"><nobr>✅ Active-Active</nobr></span> | |

Return information

{{< multitabs id="ttl-return-info" tab1="RESP2" tab2="RESP3" >}}

One of the following:

• Integer reply: TTL in seconds.
• Integer reply: -1 if the key exists but has no associated expiration.
• Integer reply: -2 if the key does not exist.

-tab-sep-

One of the following:

• Integer reply: TTL in seconds.
• Integer reply: -1 if the key exists but has no associated expiration.
• Integer reply: -2 if the key does not exist.

{{< /multitabs >}}