How do I delete a session key in Django after it is used once?

Question

I have two views.

view1 passes an error message to view2 through a session key.

How do I delete the key after view2 is rendered? I only need it for once: redirect from view1 to view2. I dont need that message to show up after refreshing my webpage. I don't think python will continue to execute once it reaches return

I was thinking about setting an expiration timestamp but I need to ensure that it exists for at least 10-20 seconds, if the application really does that long to load (we do some server stuff with Django)? So time is not that promising.

Thanks.

score 70 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 20 '12 at 04:08

70

You can delete the key from the session like any other dictionary.

del request.session['your key']

You may need to mark the session as modified for it to save, depending on some of your settings.

request.session.modified = True

answered Mar 20 '12 at 04:08

Collin Green

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Sorry. I made the whole thing so complicated. I just save it to local var, and it's done. Just delete it. Thanks. I am thinking too much. – CppLearner Mar 20 '12 at 04:15
3

If you `del` the key that is directly associated with session, and not nested like `request.session['parent_key']['child']`, then it is not required to set `request.session.modified = True` – shad0w_wa1k3r Jan 16 '18 at 14:04

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 03 '15 at 20:21

30

You could also pop the key from the session. You could set the key to a variable and get rid of it at the same time:

key_variable = request.session.pop('your key')

answered Nov 03 '15 at 20:21

Jonathan

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Which can also take a default value, like `get` – Vassilis Jul 13 '17 at 23:30
Does this require `request.session.modified = True` subsequently, or no? – Hassan Baig Sep 07 '17 at 04:55
@HassanBaig No it is not required to set `request.session.modified = True` in this case. – shad0w_wa1k3r Jan 16 '18 at 14:03
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Moreover, it might be better to do `request.session.pop('key',None)` in some cases – Hassan Baig Jan 16 '18 at 14:11
why wouldn't it delete the key? – Cesar Aug 09 '19 at 02:00

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 04 '20 at 16:02

2

if "uid" in self.request.session.keys():
    del self.request.session["uid"]

answered Jun 04 '20 at 16:02

user13681264

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While this code snippet may solve the question, [including an explanation](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/114762/explaining-entirely-code-based-answers) really helps to improve the quality of your post. Remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, and those people might not know the reasons for your code suggestion. – Abhishek Bhagate Jun 04 '20 at 18:06
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In addition to @Abhishek's feedback, it'd be really useful to understand when and why this approach might be preferred over the accepted answer from over eight years ago. Is there a benefit to this that's e.g. permitted by recent versions of Django? – Jeremy Caney Jun 05 '20 at 00:32
Thanks ....i took this for my solution – Ajay Kumar Oct 05 '21 at 11:20

How do I delete a session key in Django after it is used once?

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