Clear local storage but exempt certain values.

Question

Is there a way to clear window.localStorage i.e window.localStorage.clear(); but exempt certain key/value pairs?

Amit Joki · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-16T15:29:25.407

9

No, but you can save the values of what you want in a variable and then clear the localStorage and then add the items stored in the variable to it again.

Example:

var myItem = localStorage.getItem('key');
localStorage.clear();
localStorage.setItem('key',myItem);

edited Apr 16 '14 at 15:29

answered Apr 16 '14 at 15:23

Amit Joki

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This was pretty much what I was planning on doing but wanted to see if there was a generally accepted way, seems like this is it! – OliverJ90 Apr 16 '14 at 15:30

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 16 '14 at 15:24

5

Yes.

for( var k in window.localStorage) {
   if( k == "key1" || k == "key2") continue;
   // use your preferred method there - maybe an array of keys to exclude?

   delete window.localStorage[k];
}

answered Apr 16 '14 at 15:24

Niet the Dark Absol

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I looked at this way first; turns out the localStorage spec doesn't include the enumeration of for/in. Older versions of FireFox (at the very least) barf (http://stackoverflow.com/a/5410884/444991). – Matt Apr 16 '14 at 15:27

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:05

You could do this manually;

function clearLocalStorage(exclude) {
    for (var i = 0; i < localStorage.length; i++){
        var key = localStorage.key(i);

        if (exclude.indexOf(key) === -1) {
            localStorage.removeItem(key);
        }
    }
}

Note that I've purposefully taken the long winded approach of iterating over the length of localStorage and retrieving the matching key, rather than simply using for/in, as for/in of localStorage key's isn't specified in the spec. Older versions of FireFox barf when you for/in. I'm not sure on later versions (more info).

exclude is expected to be an array of keys you wish to exclude from being deleted;

clearLocalStorage(["foo", "bar"]);

Clear local storage but exempt certain values.

3 Answers3

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