diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
index 917e635..5066d68 100644
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Table of Contents
     * [new](#new)
     * [set](#set)
     * [get](#get)
+    * [ttl](#ttl)
     * [delete](#delete)
     * [count](#count)
     * [capacity](#capacity)
@@ -206,6 +207,22 @@ item, its default flags will be `0`.
 
 [Back to TOC](#table-of-contents)
 
+ttl
+---
+`syntax: ttl = cache:ttl(key, update_queue?)`
+
+Retrieves the remaining TTL (time-to-live in seconds) of a key. If the key does
+not exist in the cache or has already expired, `nil` will be returned. If the
+key does not have a TTL, `-1` will be returned.
+
+The optional boolean `update_queue` argument specifies if the cache entry will
+be put on top of the internal LRU queue (like when calling [cache:set](#set) or
+[cache:get](#get)) as part of the `cache:ttl` call.
+
+This feature was first introduced in the v0.16 release.
+
+[Back to TOC](#table-of-contents)
+
 delete
 ------
 `syntax: cache:delete(key)`
diff --git a/lib/resty/lrucache.lua b/lib/resty/lrucache.lua
index 20f27a9..a6bee96 100644
--- a/lib/resty/lrucache.lua
+++ b/lib/resty/lrucache.lua
@@ -204,6 +204,37 @@ function _M.get(self, key)
 end
 
 
+function _M.ttl(self, key, update_queue)
+    local hasht = self.hasht
+    local val = hasht[key]
+    if val == nil then
+        return nil
+    end
+
+    local node = self.key2node[key]
+
+    if update_queue then
+        -- print(key, ": moving node ", tostring(node), " to cache queue head")
+        local cache_queue = self.cache_queue
+        queue_remove(node)
+        queue_insert_head(cache_queue, node)
+    end
+
+    local now = ngx_now()
+    local expire = node.expire
+    if expire >= 0 then
+        if expire < now then
+            -- print("expired: ", expire, " > ", ngx_now())
+            return nil
+        else
+            return expire - now
+        end
+    end
+
+    return -1
+end
+
+
 function _M.delete(self, key)
     self.hasht[key] = nil
 
diff --git a/lib/resty/lrucache/pureffi.lua b/lib/resty/lrucache/pureffi.lua
index 289b183..e54e78a 100644
--- a/lib/resty/lrucache/pureffi.lua
+++ b/lib/resty/lrucache/pureffi.lua
@@ -496,6 +496,39 @@ function _M.get(self, key)
 end
 
 
+function _M.ttl(self, key, update_queue)
+    if type(key) ~= "string" then
+        key = tostring(key)
+    end
+
+    local node_id = find_key(self, key)
+    if not node_id then
+        return nil
+    end
+
+    local node = self.node_v + node_id
+    if update_queue then
+        -- print(key, ": moving node ", tostring(node), " to cache queue head")
+        local cache_queue = self.cache_queue
+        queue_remove(node)
+        queue_insert_head(cache_queue, node)
+    end
+
+    local now = ngx_now()
+    local expire = node.expire
+    if expire >= 0 then
+        if expire < now then
+            -- print("expired: ", expire, " > ", ngx_now())
+            return nil
+        else
+            return expire - now
+        end
+    end
+
+    return -1
+end
+
+
 function _M.delete(self, key)
     if type(key) ~= "string" then
         key = tostring(key)
diff --git a/t/009-ttl.t b/t/009-ttl.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c75827d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/009-ttl.t
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+# vim:set ft= ts=4 sw=4 et fdm=marker:
+use lib '.';
+use t::TestLRUCache;
+
+repeat_each(2);
+
+plan tests => repeat_each() * (blocks() * 3);
+
+no_long_string();
+run_tests();
+
+__DATA__
+
+=== TEST 1: no ttl
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32)
+
+            ngx.say("ttl: ", (c:ttl("dog")))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+ttl: -1
+
+
+
+=== TEST 2: ttl defined
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32, 0.2)
+            ngx.say("ttl: ", ((c:ttl("dog") or 0) > 0))
+
+            ngx.sleep(0.3)
+
+            ngx.say("ttl: ", ((c:ttl("dog") or 0) > 0))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+ttl: true
+ttl: false
+
+
+
+=== TEST 3: update_queue is false
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32)
+            c:set("cat", 33)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+
+            ngx.say("ttl cat: ", (c:ttl("cat")))
+            ngx.say("ttl dog: ", (c:ttl("dog")))
+
+            c:set("bird", 76)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+            ngx.say("bird: ", (c:get("bird")))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+dog: 32
+cat: 33
+ttl cat: -1
+ttl dog: -1
+dog: nil
+cat: 33
+bird: 76
+
+
+
+=== TEST 4: update_queue is true
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32)
+            c:set("cat", 33)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+
+            ngx.say("ttl cat: ", (c:ttl("cat", true)))
+            ngx.say("ttl dog: ", (c:ttl("dog", true)))
+
+            c:set("bird", 76)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+            ngx.say("bird: ", (c:get("bird")))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+dog: 32
+cat: 33
+ttl cat: -1
+ttl dog: -1
+dog: 32
+cat: nil
+bird: 76
+
diff --git a/t/100-pureffi/009-ttl.t b/t/100-pureffi/009-ttl.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e65bb53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/100-pureffi/009-ttl.t
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+# vim:set ft= ts=4 sw=4 et fdm=marker:
+use lib '.';
+use t::TestLRUCache;
+
+repeat_each(2);
+
+plan tests => repeat_each() * (blocks() * 3);
+
+no_long_string();
+run_tests();
+
+__DATA__
+
+=== TEST 1: no ttl
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache.pureffi"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32)
+
+            ngx.say("ttl: ", (c:ttl("dog")))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+ttl: -1
+
+
+
+=== TEST 2: ttl defined
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache.pureffi"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32, 0.2)
+            ngx.say("ttl: ", ((c:ttl("dog") or 0) > 0))
+
+            ngx.sleep(0.3)
+
+            ngx.say("ttl: ", ((c:ttl("dog") or 0) > 0))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+ttl: true
+ttl: false
+
+
+
+=== TEST 3: update_queue is false
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache.pureffi"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32)
+            c:set("cat", 33)
+            
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+
+            ngx.say("ttl cat: ", (c:ttl("cat")))
+            ngx.say("ttl dog: ", (c:ttl("dog")))
+
+            c:set("bird", 76)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+            ngx.say("bird: ", (c:get("bird")))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+dog: 32
+cat: 33
+ttl cat: -1
+ttl dog: -1
+dog: nil
+cat: 33
+bird: 76
+
+
+
+=== TEST 4: update_queue is true
+--- config
+    location = /t {
+        content_by_lua '
+            local lrucache = require "resty.lrucache.pureffi"
+            local c = lrucache.new(2)
+            if not c then
+               ngx.say("failed to init lrucache: ", err)
+               return
+            end
+
+            c:set("dog", 32)
+            c:set("cat", 33)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+
+            ngx.say("ttl cat: ", (c:ttl("cat", true)))
+            ngx.say("ttl dog: ", (c:ttl("dog", true)))
+
+            c:set("bird", 76)
+
+            ngx.say("dog: ", (c:get("dog")))
+            ngx.say("cat: ", (c:get("cat")))
+            ngx.say("bird: ", (c:get("bird")))
+        ';
+    }
+--- response_body
+dog: 32
+cat: 33
+ttl cat: -1
+ttl dog: -1
+dog: 32
+cat: nil
+bird: 76
+