UNLINK

Syntax text Syntax diagram API methods

UNLINK key [key ...]

Client:

unlink(
    names: KeyT
) → int

UNLINK(
    keys: RedisVariadicArgument
) → Any

unlink(
    keys: byte[]...
) → long  // The number of keys that were unlinked

unlink(
    key: byte[]
) → long  // The number of keys that were unlinked

unlink(
    keys: String...
) → long  // The number of keys that were unlinked

unlink(
    key: String
) → long  // The number of keys that were unlinked

unlink(
    keys: K...  // the keys.
) → Long  // Long integer-reply The number of keys that were removed.

unlink(
    keys: K...  // the keys.
) → RedisFuture<Long>  // Long integer-reply The number of keys that were removed.

unlink(
    keys: K...  // the keys.
) → Mono<Long>  // Long integer-reply The number of keys that were removed.

Unlink(
    ctx: context.Context,
    keys: ...string
) → *IntCmd

KeyDelete(
    key: RedisKey,  // The key to delete.
    flags: CommandFlags  // The flags to use for this operation.
) → bool  // true if the key was removed.

KeyDelete(
    keys: RedisKey[],  // The keys to delete.
    flags: CommandFlags  // The flags to use for this operation.
) → long  // The number of keys that were removed.

KeyDeleteAsync(
    key: RedisKey,  // The key to delete.
    flags: CommandFlags  // The flags to use for this operation.
) → Task<bool>  // true if the key was removed.

KeyDeleteAsync(
    keys: RedisKey[],  // The keys to delete.
    flags: CommandFlags  // The flags to use for this operation.
) → Task<long>  // The number of keys that were removed.

unlink(
    $keyOrKeys: string[]|string,
    $keys: string ...
) → int

Available since:: Redis Open Source 4.0.0
Time complexity:: O(1) for each key removed regardless of its size. Then the command does O(N) work in a different thread in order to reclaim memory, where N is the number of allocations the deleted objects where composed of.
ACL categories:: @keyspace, @write, @fast,
Compatibility:: Redis Software and Redis Cloud compatibility

Note:

This command's behavior varies in clustered Redis environments. See the multi-key operations page for more information.

This command is very similar to DEL: it removes the specified keys. Just like DEL a key is ignored if it does not exist. However the command performs the actual memory reclaiming in a different thread, so it is not blocking, while DEL is. This is where the command name comes from: the command just unlinks the keys from the keyspace. The actual removal will happen later asynchronously.

Required arguments

key [key ...]

One or more keys to delete asynchronously.

Examples

Redis Software and Redis Cloud compatibility

Redis Software	Redis Cloud	Notes
✅ Standard ✅ Active-Active	✅ Standard ✅ Active-Active

Return information

RESP2 RESP3

Integer reply: the number of keys that were unlinked.