On Jan 31, 6:52 am, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:48:37 -0800, James Stroud wrote: > > Stef Mientki wrote: > >> If I create a large array of data or class, > >> how do I destroy it (when not needed anymore) ? > > >> Assign it to an empty list ? > > >> thanks, > >> Stef Mientki > > > It will be gc'd when you leave the scope or you can call del() to > > explicitly get rid of the object if its existence bothers you. > > That is not quite correct. > > big_list = ["data"]*1000000 > another_reference = big_list > del big_list > > At this point, the list of one million "data" strings still exists. > > del big_list doesn't delete the list object, it removes the name > "big_list". Then, only if the list has a reference count of zero, Python > will dispose of the object and free the memory (if your OS allows that). > If there are still references to it, like "another_reference" above, it > will not be disposed of. > > As far as I know there is no way to force the deletion of an object even > if it is in use. This is a Good Thing. > > -- > Steven D'Aprano
The folowing will make the data available for garbage collection no matter what references it: >>> l = ["data"] *10 >>> l ['data', 'data', 'data', 'data', 'data', 'data', 'data', 'data', 'data', 'data'] >>> l2 = l >>> l[:] = [] >>> l2 [] >>> - Paddy. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
