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.
2 Answers
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 xdoesn’t directly callx.__del__()— the former decrements the reference count forxby one, and the latter is only called whenx‘s reference count reaches zero
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
