expire_image(3)

expire_image(3) 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to expire_image(3) from the Arcan Lua API — this is the page for scheduling an image for deletion, and it is genuinely giving “timer, but make it image” energy. 💅

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💖 NAME 💖

expire_image — schedule the image for deletion. periodt. ✨

🌱 SYNOPSIS 🌱

nil
expire_image( vid, timetolive )

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so for some images, you don’t just want to say “delete this” — you want to say when it should be deleted, often in conjunction with how the transformation chain is currently running, and without tracking time in other means. that’s the whole vibe. 💫

this function lets you specify how many ticks the image has left to live. no cap. ⏳

🌸 NOTES 🌸

• 1 — for n : 0 <= n < 1, n will be forced to one tick. the timer to the new value.

✨ EXAMPLE ✨

here’s the example, bestie — look at it slay:

function expire_image0()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 255, 0, 0);
      expire_image(a, 100);
end

💀 MISUSE 💀

okay now we’re in the don’t-do-this zone, bestie. this is a misuse example — please do not copy it. 🙈

function expire_image0()
      expire_image(WORLDID, 10);
end

💀 MISUSE 💀

misuse example number two, no cap — not it:

function expire_image1()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 255, 0);
      expire_image(a, -1);
end

💀 MISUSE 💀

and misuse example number three — this one is also absolutely not the move:

function expire_image2()
      a = fill_surface(32, 32, 0, 0, 255);
      expire_image(a, "deadline");
end

🌈 SEE ALSO: 🌈

if you’re still hungry for more, go see:

• delete_image(3)

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later, bestie 🫶 — this page is image, dated October 2026, and it’s the expire_image(3) page. byeeeee 💖