Welcome back! Today, we explore one of Redis’s most memory-efficient and versatile data structures: bitmaps. These structures allow you to store and manipulate binary data at the bit level, making them ideal for tracking binary states such as user activity, attendance, or feature flags.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to set, retrieve, and count bits within a bitmap using common Redis commands. Bitmaps provide a compact and efficient way to manage large-scale binary data, enabling you to handle millions of entries with minimal memory usage. By the end of this lesson, you’ll understand why Redis bitmaps are a must-have tool for applications requiring high-performance data handling.

Redis bitmaps are specialized data structures for working with binary data stored as bits within a string. Each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a binary state, typically represented as 1 (on) or 0 (off).

Redis bitmaps are unique because they allow direct access and manipulation of individual bits in a compact and memory-efficient way. This is particularly useful for tracking binary states for applications like feature toggles, active users, or event attendance.

Redis bitmaps have several key features that make them indispensable for tracking binary states:

• Binary Data Storage: Each bit can be either 0 or 1, making it an efficient way to represent on/off states.
• Memory Efficiency: A single bitmap can store thousands or millions of bits using very little memory.
• Fast Operations: Bit-level operations like setting, getting, and counting are performed in constant time O(1).
• Scalability: Bitmaps support large indexes, allowing them to manage extensive datasets without significant memory overhead.

Bitmaps are a great choice for tasks where binary tracking needs to be both compact and fast.

The SETBIT command allows you to modify individual bits in a bitmap. Each bit is identified by its offset within the string, and its value can be set to 1 or 0. This command is particularly useful for tracking binary states for entities like users or features.

To set bits in a bitmap via Jedis, use the setbit method. Here’s an example:

Java
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1// Setting bits in a bitmap
2jedis.setbit("user_active", 0, true);
3jedis.setbit("user_active", 1, true);
4jedis.setbit("user_active", 2, false);

In this example:

1. Bit 0 is set to 1 (active).
2. Bit 1 is set to 1 (active).
3. Bit 2 is set to 0 (inactive).

Redis automatically translates true → 1 and false → 0, making it straightforward to track binary states for individual entities.

Important:
Jedis does not accept invalid binary values. Calling jedis.setbit("user_active", 3, 2) will result in a compilation or runtime error. You must use true/false, 1, or 0 as valid binary inputs.

The GETBIT command retrieves the value of a specific bit from the bitmap. It’s often used to verify the state of a particular entity, such as whether a user is active.

Retrieving bits is simple. Here’s an example of fetching specific bits:

Java
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1// Getting bits from a bitmap
2boolean user0Active = jedis.getbit("user_active", 0);
3boolean user2Active = jedis.getbit("user_active", 2);
4System.out.println("User 0 active: " + user0Active + ", User 2 active: " + user2Active);

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1Output:
2User 0 active: true, User 2 active: false

This example retrieves the states of users indexed at 0 and 2. The output indicates whether these users are active (true) or inactive (false).

Although Redis bitmaps don’t explicitly support existence checks, you can infer the presence of a bit by retrieving its value. For example:

Java
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1// Check if a user is active
2boolean isActive = jedis.getbit("user_active", 1);
3System.out.println("Is User 1 active? " + isActive);

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1Output:
2Is User 1 active? true

This approach is useful for validating the state of specific entities in your bitmap.

The BITCOUNT command is a powerful tool for aggregating binary states. It calculates the number of bits set to 1 in the bitmap, providing an efficient way to count active states.

Counting active bits is as simple as using the following command:

Java
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1// Counting the number of active users
2long activeUsers = jedis.bitcount("user_active");
3System.out.println("Number of active users: " + activeUsers);

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1Output:
2Number of active users: 2

In this example, Redis scans the user_active bitmap and returns the total number of bits set to 1. This is particularly useful for tasks like tallying active users or counting enabled feature flags.

Redis bitmaps make it easy to dynamically update binary states. The SETBIT command can be reused to toggle states or mark specific bits as active or inactive.

Here’s an example of modifying an existing bit:

Java
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1// Modifying bits in a bitmap
2jedis.setbit("user_active", 2, true); // Activate User 2
3System.out.println("User 2 active after modification: " + jedis.getbit("user_active", 2));

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1Output:
2User 2 active after modification: true

This updates bit 2 to 1, marking the corresponding user as active.

Redis bitmaps offer unmatched efficiency and versatility for managing binary states. Let’s review why they’re so impactful:

1. Compact Storage: A single bitmap can store millions of binary states in just a few bytes, minimizing memory usage.
2. High Performance: With constant-time operations like setting, retrieving, and counting bits, bitmaps deliver exceptional speed.
3. Real-World Applications: Bitmaps are widely used for tracking user activity, managing feature flags, and monitoring attendance or states.

Mastering Redis bitmaps allows you to handle large-scale binary data with ease, making them an essential tool for developers building high-performance applications. Ready to apply what you’ve learned? Let’s dive into the practice section!