OBJECT ENCODING

OBJECT ENCODING returns the name of the encoding used for the value at key. Small collections use a compact encoding and switch to a general one once they grow past the configured size limits; tools written for Redis that check these names keep working.

Type	Possible encodings
String	int (a 64-bit integer), embstr, raw
List	listpack, quicklist
Set	intset, listpack, hashtable
Hash	listpack, listpackex (compact, with field expiry), hashtable
Sorted set	listpack, skiplist
Stream	stream
Bloom filter, count-min sketch, Top-K	raw

Looking at a key with OBJECT is not an access to it.

Return value

Case	RESP2	RESP3
The key exists	Bulk string: the encoding name	Bulk string
The key does not exist	Nil bulk string	Null

Examples

127.0.0.1:6379> SET counter 12345
OK
127.0.0.1:6379> OBJECT ENCODING counter
"int"
127.0.0.1:6379> SET name "ada"
OK
127.0.0.1:6379> OBJECT ENCODING name
"embstr"
127.0.0.1:6379> SADD ids 1 2 3
(integer) 3
127.0.0.1:6379> OBJECT ENCODING ids
"intset"
127.0.0.1:6379> OBJECT ENCODING missing
(nil)

Compatibility

Same encoding names as Redis 7.4. The probabilistic types report raw.

See also

OBJECT, TYPE, OBJECT FREQ