> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kinetica.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# TTL

*Time-to-live (TTL)* is a configurable number of minutes since last access
before a [table](/content/concepts/tables) or [view](/content/concepts/views) will expire and be removed
from the database.  A *TTL* of `-1` will direct that an entity not expire.

If a *table* or *view* is assigned a *TTL*, its expiration timer will be reset
to the value of its configured *TTL* each time it is accessed.  For instance, a
*view* with a five minute *TTL* will have its life extended by five minutes from
the time it is accessed every time it is accessed.  If it is not accessed within
five minutes from the time of last access, it will be removed.

*Tables*, by default, will not expire.  *Views*, by default, will expire in the
number of minutes configured within the server's
[default\_ttl](../config/#config-main-general) setting.

A *TTL* can be any of the following:

* `n` - the database entity will live for `n` minutes since last access,
  where `n` is a positive integer
* `0` - the database entity will expire immediately
* `-1` - the database entity will not expire

<Info>
  *TTL* only governs an entity's expiration by timeout.  For example, a
  [memory-only table](/content/concepts/tables_memory_only) with a *TTL* set to not expire
  will still be removed from the system upon database restart, as it is a
  non-persisted entity.
</Info>

## Examples

To assign a 7-minute *TTL* to a *table*:

<CodeGroup>
  ```sql SQL theme={null}
  ALTER TABLE example.employee
  SET TTL 7
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  kinetica.alter_table(
      table_name = "example.ttl_table",
      action = "ttl",
      value = "7"
  )
  ```
</CodeGroup>

To set a *table* to not expire:

<CodeGroup>
  ```sql SQL theme={null}
  ALTER TABLE example.employee
  SET TTL -1
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  kinetica.alter_table(
      table_name = "example.ttl_table",
      action = "ttl",
      value = "-1"
  )
  ```
</CodeGroup>