Redis Python - how to delete all keys according to a specific pattern In python, without python iterating
Use SCAN iterators: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/redis
for key in r.scan_iter("prefix:*"): r.delete(key)
Here is a full working example using py-redis:
from redis import StrictRediscache = StrictRedis()def clear_ns(ns): """ Clears a namespace :param ns: str, namespace i.e your:prefix :return: int, cleared keys """ count = 0 ns_keys = ns + '*' for key in cache.scan_iter(ns_keys): cache.delete(key) count += 1 return count
You can also do scan_iter
to get all the keys into memory, and then pass all the keys to delete
for a bulk delete but may take a good chunk of memory for larger namespaces. So probably best to run a delete
for each key.
Cheers!
UPDATE:
Since writing the answer, I started using pipelining feature of redis to send all commands in one request and avoid network latency:
from redis import StrictRediscache = StrictRedis()def clear_cache_ns(ns): """ Clears a namespace in redis cache. This may be very time consuming. :param ns: str, namespace i.e your:prefix* :return: int, num cleared keys """ count = 0 pipe = cache.pipeline() for key in cache.scan_iter(ns): pipe.delete(key) count += 1 pipe.execute() return count
UPDATE2 (Best Performing):
If you use scan
instead of scan_iter
, you can control the chunk size and iterate through the cursor using your own logic. This also seems to be a lot faster, especially when dealing with many keys. If you add pipelining to this you will get a bit of a performance boost, 10-25% depending on chunk size, at the cost of memory usage since you will not send the execute command to Redis until everything is generated. So I stuck with scan:
from redis import StrictRediscache = StrictRedis()CHUNK_SIZE = 5000def clear_ns(ns): """ Clears a namespace :param ns: str, namespace i.e your:prefix :return: int, cleared keys """ cursor = '0' ns_keys = ns + '*' while cursor != 0: cursor, keys = cache.scan(cursor=cursor, match=ns_keys, count=CHUNK_SIZE) if keys: cache.delete(*keys) return True
Here are some benchmarks:
5k chunks using a busy Redis cluster:
Done removing using scan in 4.49929285049Done removing using scan_iter in 98.4856731892Done removing using scan_iter & pipe in 66.8833789825Done removing using scan & pipe in 3.20298910141
5k chunks and a small idle dev redis (localhost):
Done removing using scan in 1.26654982567Done removing using scan_iter in 13.5976779461Done removing using scan_iter & pipe in 4.66061878204Done removing using scan & pipe in 1.13942599297
I think the
for key in x: cache.delete(key)
is pretty good and concise. delete
really wants one key at a time, so you have to loop.
Otherwise, this previous question and answer points you to a lua-based solution.