EXPIREAT

EXPIREAT is a Redis command that sets an expiration time for a key as an exact Unix timestamp in seconds since the epoch. Unlike EXPIRE, which specifies a time-to-live relative to the current moment, EXPIREAT fixes the expiry at a specific moment in time. When the timestamp is reached, Redis automatically deletes the key.

Syntax: EXPIREAT key timestamp

Return value: 1 if the timeout was set; 0 if the key does not exist.

If the timestamp is in the past, the key is expired immediately. If the key already has a timeout, it is replaced with the new timestamp. The command operates on the key’s expiry metadata, which is part of the stored dataset and affected by regular Redis operations on the key.

EXPIREAT has related commands for working with expirations. PEXPIREAT uses timestamps in milliseconds. There is also EXPIRE, which sets a TTL relative to the present moment rather than an absolute time. TTL and PTTL report the remaining time to expiry for a key.

Persistence and behavior: Expiry information is persisted alongside the key in Redis’s data persistence mechanisms (RDB snapshots and AOF logs). Expirations can be cleared with PERSIST, which removes the expiry on a key and makes it non-expiring unless another expiry is set.

Example: EXPIREAT session:token 1735675200

This sets the expiry of the key to the specified Unix timestamp. If the key exists, Redis will delete it when that time arrives; if it does not exist, the command returns 0.