GC.Collect in Python

Question

Can you call the garbage collector explicitly in Python (like C#) 🤔? 👁️

Answer 1

I think that it is what 'gc.collect' is supposed to do 😅

Answer 2

import gc
gc.collect()
# can use ‘del’ as well

Answer 3

In fact, python uses a ref counter for each object and when the counter is at 0, the object is immediately freed (it does not go through the gc).

However, recursive objects (a list refencing itself) cannot be freed directly, and the role of 'collect' is to find this weird objects and delete them from memory.

Exemple :
a = [1, 2]
del a
# the object is deleted immediately

a = []
a.append(a)
del a
# the ref counter is still at 1. 'collect' will find this recursive object and delete it later

Answer 4

Flash why are you talking about 'del'? 🤔

Answer 5

x = [1...]
del x
# btw it may not free the mem right away, rather schedule a gc call, like dispose() in C# Théophile