Update a DynamoDB item with a TTL using an AWS SDK

The following code examples show how to update an item's TTL.

Java

SDK for Java 2.x

Update TTL on an existing DynamoDB item in a table.

import software.amazon.awssdk.regions.Region;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.DynamoDbClient;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.AttributeValue;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DynamoDbException;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.ResourceNotFoundException;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.UpdateItemRequest;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.UpdateItemResponse;
import software.amazon.awssdk.utils.ImmutableMap;

import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Optional;

        // Get current time in epoch second format
        final long currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000;
        // Calculate expiration time 90 days from now in epoch second format
        final long expireDate = currentTime + (90 * 24 * 60 * 60);
        // An expression that defines one or more attributes to be updated, the action to be performed on them, and new values for them.
        final String updateExpression = "SET updatedAt=:c, expireAt=:e";

        final ImmutableMap<String, AttributeValue> keyMap =
                ImmutableMap.of("primaryKey", AttributeValue.fromS(primaryKey),
                        "sortKey", AttributeValue.fromS(sortKey));
        final Map<String, AttributeValue> expressionAttributeValues = ImmutableMap.of(
                ":c", AttributeValue.builder().s(String.valueOf(currentTime)).build(),
                ":e", AttributeValue.builder().s(String.valueOf(expireDate)).build()
        );

        final UpdateItemRequest request = UpdateItemRequest.builder()
                .tableName(tableName)
                .key(keyMap)
                .updateExpression(updateExpression)
                .expressionAttributeValues(expressionAttributeValues)
                .build();
        try (DynamoDbClient ddb = DynamoDbClient.builder()
                .region(region)
                .build()) {
            final UpdateItemResponse response = ddb.updateItem(request);
            System.out.println(tableName + " UpdateItem operation with TTL successful. Request id is "
                    + response.responseMetadata().requestId());
        } catch (ResourceNotFoundException e) {
            System.err.format("Error: The Amazon DynamoDB table \"%s\" can't be found.\n", tableName);
            System.exit(1);
        } catch (DynamoDbException e) {
            System.err.println(e.getMessage());
            System.exit(1);
        }
        System.exit(0);

• For API details, see UpdateItem in AWS SDK for Java 2.x API Reference.

JavaScript

SDK for JavaScript (v3)

import { DynamoDBClient, UpdateItemCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb";
import { marshall, unmarshall } from "@aws-sdk/util-dynamodb";

async function updateDynamoDBItem(tableName, region, partitionKey, sortKey) {
    const client = new DynamoDBClient({
        region: region,
        endpoint: `https://dynamodb.${region}.amazonaws.com`
    });

    const currentTime = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
    const expireAt = Math.floor((Date.now() + 90 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000) / 1000);

    const params = {
        TableName: tableName,
        Key: marshall({
            partitionKey: partitionKey,
            sortKey: sortKey
        }),
        UpdateExpression: "SET updatedAt = :c, expireAt = :e",
        ExpressionAttributeValues: marshall({
            ":c": currentTime,
            ":e": expireAt
        }),
    };

    try {
        const data = await client.send(new UpdateItemCommand(params));
        const responseData = unmarshall(data.Attributes);
        console.log("Item updated successfully: %s", responseData);
        return responseData;
    } catch (err) {
        console.error("Error updating item:", err);
        throw err;
    }
}

//enter your values here
updateDynamoDBItem('your-table-name', 'us-east-1', 'your-partition-key-value', 'your-sort-key-value');

• For API details, see UpdateItem in AWS SDK for JavaScript API Reference.

Python

SDK for Python (Boto3)

import boto3
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

def update_dynamodb_item(table_name, region, primary_key, sort_key):
    """
    Update an existing DynamoDB item with a TTL.
    :param table_name: Name of the DynamoDB table
    :param region: AWS Region of the table - example `us-east-1`
    :param primary_key: one attribute known as the partition key.
    :param sort_key: Also known as a range attribute.
    :return: Void (nothing)
    """
    try:
        # Create the DynamoDB resource.
        dynamodb = boto3.resource('dynamodb', region_name=region)
        table = dynamodb.Table(table_name)

        # Get the current time in epoch second format
        current_time = int(datetime.now().timestamp())

        # Calculate the expireAt time (90 days from now) in epoch second format
        expire_at = int((datetime.now() + timedelta(days=90)).timestamp())

        table.update_item(
            Key={
                'partitionKey': primary_key,
                'sortKey': sort_key
            },
            UpdateExpression="set updatedAt=:c, expireAt=:e",
            ExpressionAttributeValues={
                ':c': current_time,
                ':e': expire_at
            },
        )

        print("Item updated successfully.")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error updating item: {e}")


# Replace with your own values
update_dynamodb_item('your-table-name', 'us-west-2', 'your-partition-key-value', 'your-sort-key-value')

• For API details, see UpdateItem in AWS SDK for Python (Boto3) API Reference.