SELECT(3valkey)

✨ SELECT 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to SELECT(3valkey) — straight out of the Valkey Command Manual, and yes we're gonna make database switching feel like picking a new outfit 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

SELECT index

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So basically? SELECT picks which Valkey logical database you're hanging out in, using the zero-based numeric index you give it. Baby's first connection always starts in database 0 — no exceptions, that's just where everybody spawns. 🌱

By default Valkey hands you 16 logical databases, indexed from 0 to 15. Want more? You can bump that number by setting the databases parameter in the configuration file. But listen — that change has to happen at startup and it cannot be modified at runtime. So decide before you launch, bestie, no take-backs. 🫶

Selectable Valkey databases are basically a form of namespacing: all the databases still get persisted in the same RDB / AOF file. The glow-up is that different databases can totally have keys with the same name, and commands like valkey-flushdb(7) FLUSHDB, valkey-swapdb(7) SWAPDB or valkey-randomkey(7) RANDOMKEY work on specific databases. Periodt. 👑

In practical terms — and this is the real talk — Valkey databases should be used to separate different keys belonging to the same application (if needed), and not to cram multiple unrelated applications into a single Valkey instance. Don't do that. It's giving chaos. 😭

Valkey 9.0 and later supports multiple databases in cluster mode. You can use SELECT <dbid> to switch between them. slay ✨

Since the currently selected database is a property of the connection, clients should track the currently selected database and re-select it on reconnection. Like, if your connection dips and comes back, it doesn't remember your vibe — you gotta remind it. 💀

And while there's no dedicated command to query the currently selected database for a connection, you can infer it from the output of valkey-client-list(7) CLIENT LIST or valkey-client-info(7) CLIENT INFO, where each client entry includes the db=N field indicating the selected database. iykyk 🔍

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🦋 REPLY 🦋

valkey-protocol(7) Simple string reply: OK.

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⭐ COMPLEXITY ⭐

O(1)

(instant. no notes. iconic. 💅)

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🎀 ACL CATEGORIES 🎀

@connection @fast

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🌈 HISTORY 🌈

• Available since: 1.0.0

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• auth(3valkey)
• client(3valkey)
• client-caching(3valkey)
• client-capa(3valkey)
• client-getname(3valkey)
• client-getredir(3valkey)
• client-help(3valkey)
• client-id(3valkey)
• client-import-source(3valkey)
• client-info(3valkey)
• client-kill(3valkey)
• client-list(3valkey)
• client-no-evict(3valkey)
• client-no-touch(3valkey)
• client-pause(3valkey)
• client-reply(3valkey)
• client-setinfo(3valkey)
• client-setname(3valkey)
• client-tracking(3valkey)
• client-trackinginfo(3valkey)
• client-unblock(3valkey)
• client-unpause(3valkey)
• echo(3valkey)
• hello(3valkey)
• ping(3valkey)
• quit(3valkey)
• reset(3valkey)

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version 9.0.0, dated 2025-10-21, and yeah this whole page is literally SELECT(3valkey). go switch databases responsibly bestie, mwah 💜🧚