item == nil, is it true for expired cache.Get("user:4") too?

[unisqu]

item == nil, is it true for expired cache.Get("user:4") too?

  item := cache.Get("user:4")
  if item == nil {
    //handle
  } else {
    user := item.Value().(*User)
  }

i would like to check if item is empty. how do i check that? will expired item be emptied?

[karlseguin]

There's 3 cases:

if item == nil {
   ...
} else if item.Expired() {
  .. // can use item.TTL() to see how stale it is
} else {
   .. / item not expired
}```

The `item.Expired() == true` case happens when the item has expired, but it hasn't been removed from the cache (because the size of the cache is still smaller than the configured max). The benefit of this approach is that it gives you more flexibility by giving you the option to use stale data if you want.

[unisqu]

thx

[unisqu]

if item == nil { ... } else if item.Expired() { .. // can use item.TTL() to see how stale it is } else { .. / item not expired }```

my problem with this statement is... "see how stale it is?" let's say in the next nanosecond, the cache is exceeded and item is evicted/flushed, let's say i dont do TTL() but would like to serve that stale item (but the last nanosecond is evicted/flush), won't that be "dangerous" as my item will be nil.

[karlseguin]

No.

It might get evicted from the cache, but item still holds a reference to value so it won't be garbage collected until item falls out of scope.