On Jul 24, 3:06 pm, Ben Finney <ben+pyt...@benfinney.id.au> wrote: > Utpal Sarkar <doe...@gmail.com> writes: > > Is there a way I can tell a variable that the object it is pointing > > too is not owned by it, in the sense that if it is the only reference > > to the object it can be garbage collected? > > Python doesn't have “pointers”, and doesn't really have “variables” > either, at least not how many other languages use that term. > > What it does have is references to objects > <URL:http://effbot.org/zone/python-objects.htm>. > > > on first instantiation the object is created and a reference is kept > > in the class, that is used to return the same object in subsequent > > instantiations. When all instances go out of scope, the reference in > > the class is still there, preventing it from being garbage collected, > > but since the instance can be huge, I would like it to be. > > What you are asking for is called a “weak reference” and is provided > by the ‘weakref’ module <URL:http://docs.python.org/library/weakref>. > > -- > \ “Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.” | > `\ —Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_, 1906 | > _o__) | > Ben Finney
Thanks to the three of you. This is precisely what I needed! Gerhard, the reason I need to clean it up is that it is a lazy data structure that can grow to arbitrary size. When it is not needed anymore it would still remain in memory. Utpal -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
