How to delete an instantiated object Python?

Question

I am relatively new to object oriented programming and I cannot figure out how to delete an instantiated object in Python.

if self.hit_paddle(pos) == True or self.hit_paddle2(pos) == True:     bar = bar + 1 if bar == 1:     global barbox1     barbox1 = barfill(canvas)     barbox1.canvas.move(barbox1.id, 253, 367) if bar == 2:     global barbox2     barbox2 = barfill(canvas)     barbox2.canvas.move(barbox5.id, 413, 367)     bar = 0     time.sleep(0.2)     barbox1 = None     barbox2 = None 

That is the code, the main thing I was trying in order to delete the objects was barbox1 = None, but that doesn't seem to work.

Answer 1

object.__del__(self) is called when the instance is about to be destroyed.

>>> class Test: ...     def __del__(self): ...         print "deleted" ...  >>> test = Test() >>> del test deleted 

Object is not deleted unless all of its references are removed(As quoted by ethan)

Also, From Python official doc reference:

del x doesn’t directly call x.__del__() — the former decrements the reference count for x by one, and the latter is only called when x‘s reference count reaches zero

Answer 2

What do you mean by delete? In Python, removing a reference (or a name) can be done with the del keyword, but if there are other names to the same object that object will not be deleted.

--> test = 3 --> print(test) 3 --> del test --> print(test) Traceback (most recent call last):   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> NameError: name 'test' is not defined 

compared to:

--> test = 5 --> other is test  # check that both name refer to the exact same object True --> del test       # gets rid of test, but the object is still referenced by other --> print(other) 5