PEXPIREAT

Sets the expiration time of a key to a Unix milliseconds timestamp.

Browse all commands · Upstream source documentation

Reference field	Value
Canonical name	PEXPIREAT
Catalog group	Generic commands
Upstream since	2.6.0 — upstream Redis/module version, not an ffkv release
Pinned catalog	Redis 8.10.0

Syntax

PEXPIREAT key unix-time-milliseconds [NX | XX | GT | LT]

ffkv behavior and limits

TTL deadlines use wall-clock time and remain absolute across restart. Key/database operations can overwrite or remove data; SCAN is incremental rather than an atomic snapshot. New typed structures remain in RAM in hybrid mode.

Source: README.md:193–195, 375–377, 584–585; tests/bdd/features/generic.feature.

All requests share the 8 MiB framing/1,024-argument ingress limit; normal RESP replies have 64 MiB wire/logical budgets with bounded nesting/value counts. Management and Lua origins impose smaller budgets. These are not a process RSS cap. Catalog inclusion is not exhaustive option or wire-format parity. See limits and compatibility.

Upstream metadata

The following fields come from the pinned Redis metadata, not measured ffkv performance or an assertion that ffkv enforces every upstream flag. Running COMMAND INFO/COMMAND DOCS describe the current engine.

Upstream Redis complexity: O(1)

Upstream arity: -3 (includes the command name; a negative number is a minimum).

Command flags: WRITE, FAST.

ACL categories: KEYSPACE.

Argument structure

Argument	Type	Constraints / metadata
key	key	key_spec_index: 0
unix-time-milliseconds	unix-time	Required
condition	oneof	optional; since: 7.0.0
↳ nx	pure-token	token: NX
↳ xx	pure-token	token: XX
↳ gt	pure-token	token: GT
↳ lt	pure-token	token: LT

Key specifications

Upstream key discovery descriptors (indexes are relative to the full command vector):

[
  {
    "flags": [
      "RW",
      "UPDATE"
    ],
    "begin_search": {
      "index": {
        "pos": 1
      }
    },
    "find_keys": {
      "range": {
        "lastkey": 0,
        "step": 1,
        "limit": 0
      }
    }
  }
]

Additional pinned upstream metadata

{
  "group": "generic",
  "since": "2.6.0",
  "history": [
    [
      "7.0.0",
      "Added options: `NX`, `XX`, `GT` and `LT`."
    ]
  ]
}

Metadata source · Local snapshot: src/command_metadata.json, key pexpireat.

BDD coverage and source examples

These are source observations, not a test run performed by this documentation build. A tag identifies scenario intent; an extracted vector identifies a command invocation, which may intentionally produce an error. Scenarios may require setup, multiple connections, persistence, cluster nodes or native-module fixtures.

• Expiration invalidates tracked values instead of leaving an expired cache entry — tests/bdd/features/connections.feature:811; invocation observed.
• Copy across databases replaces only when requested and detaches hash values and field deadlines — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:5; invocation observed.
• Dump and restore round trip binary values without copying the source key deadline — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:182; invocation observed.
• Invalid serialized data cannot replace a live value or its deadline — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:256; invocation observed.
• Absolute deadlines report exact units and conditionally replace deadlines — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:616; command tag and invocation observed.
• Move respects destination collisions and transfers a hash with its deadline to another database — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:768; invocation observed.
• Rename overwrites the destination and preserves the source collection and expiration — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:1042; invocation observed.
• Conditional rename retains both keys on collision and moves only to an absent destination — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:1103; invocation observed.
• Sort resolves external hash weights and multiple GET patterns before limiting and storing — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:1203; invocation observed.
• A failed numeric sort cannot alter its store destination or the original collection — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:1267; invocation observed.
• Read only sorting resolves external keys and leaves an expiring set unchanged — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:1304; invocation observed.
• Prepared layouts preserve declared field order and replace complete hashes — tests/bdd/features/hashes.feature:877; invocation observed.
• Legacy right-to-left move rotates a same-key list and preserves its expiry — tests/bdd/features/lists.feature:450; invocation observed.
• Rename expiration deletion and type replacement do not leave stale postings — tests/bdd/features/search.feature:904; invocation observed.

Extracted command vectors

The following JSON arrays are the test harness’s argument vectors, not shell commands. Numeric arguments are converted by the harness; objects of the form {"base64":"…"} represent decoded binary bytes, not a literal JSON command argument. Preserve scenario setup and connection ordering. See the CLI guide for shell quoting and binary stdin. No reply is invented or inferred.

Absolute deadlines report exact units and conditionally replace deadlines — tests/bdd/features/generic.feature:718 (I execute:)

[
  "PEXPIREAT",
  "key",
  4102444800123
]

Next source assertion: the reply equals:

0

Expiration invalidates tracked values instead of leaving an expired cache entry — tests/bdd/features/connections.feature:830 (I execute:)

[
  "PEXPIREAT",
  "expiring-cache",
  "1"
]

Next source assertion: the reply equals:

1

Rename expiration deletion and type replacement do not leave stale postings — tests/bdd/features/search.feature:930 (the following commands succeed:)

[
  "PEXPIREAT",
  "doc:3",
  1
]