Apology for the previous offensive title~~ :) Thanks, Rintsch, Arnaud and Daniel, for replying so soon.
I redid the experiment. What following is the record - ``starting python`` # == Windows Task Manager: Python.exe *4,076 *K memory-usage == >>> st1='abcdefg'*999999 # == 10,952 K == >>> del st1 # == *4,104*K == >>> st1='abcdefg'*999999 # == 10,952 K == >>> del st1 # == 4,104 K == >>> li = ['abcde']*999999 # == 8,024 K == >>> del li # == *4,108* K == >>> from nltk import FreqDist # == 17,596 == >>> fd = FreqDist() # == 17,596 == >>> for i in range(999999):fd.inc(i) # == 53,412 == >>> del fd # == *28,780* == >>> fd2 = FreqDist() # == 28,780 == >>> for i in range(999999):fd2.inc(i) # == 53,412 == >>> del fd2 # == 28,780 K == >>> def foo(): ... fd3 = FreqDist() ... for i in range(999999):fd3.inc(i) >>> foo() # == *28,788* K == >>> def bar(): ... fd4 = FreqDist() ... for i in range(999999):fd4.inc(i) ... del fd4 # == 28,788 K == >>> bar() # == 28,788 K == That is my question, after ``del``, sometimes the memory space returns back as nothing happened, sometimes not... ... What exactly was happening??? Best regards to all PYTHON people ~~ !!! Python Team are great !!! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list