Python Destroy Object – How to Delete Objects with del Keyword

In Python, we can destroy an object with the del keyword. The del keyword deletes objects in your Python code.

string = "this is a string"

del string

print(string)

#Output:
Error: string is not defined

When working in Python, sometimes it makes sense to be able to destroy an object or delete a variable in your program.

The Python del keyword allows us to delete objects. We can use the del keyword to destroy variables, user-defined objects, lists, items within lists, and dictionaries.

For example, let’s say we have a simple string variable. We can destroy it with the Python del keyword as shown in the following code. When you try to access the string variable after deleting it, you receive an error.

string = "this is a string"

del string

print(string)

#Output:
Error: string is not defined

How to Delete a Variable in Python with del Keyword

In Python, we can delete any variable with del.

Below are a handful of examples of how you can use del to delete a variable, list or dictionary.

string = "this is a string"
dict = {"name":"Kelly", "height":55}
list = [0,1,2,3]

del string
del dict
del list

print(string)
print(dict)
print(list)

#Output:
Error: string is not defined
Error: dict is not defined
Error: list is not defined

Removing Elements from a List in Python Using del Keyword

Another use of the del keyword is destroy elements from a list.

For example, we can remove the first element of a list using the del keyword easily as shown below.

list = [1,2,9,0,1,3]

del list[0]

print(list)

#Output:
[2,9,0,1,3]

We can also delete slices from lists with the del keyword.

list = [1,2,9,0,1,3]

del list[1:3]

print(list)

#Output:
[1,0,1,3]

Removing Key Value Pairs from Dictionaries Using del Keyword in Python

We can also use the del keyword to remove key value pairs from dictionary variables.

Below is an example of how you can delete a key value pair from a dictionary variable in Python.

dict = {"name":"Kelly", "height":55}

del dict["height"]

print(dict)

#Output:
{'name': 'Kelly'}

Destroying a User-Defined Object in Python with del Keyword

One last example I’d like to go over in this post is using the Python del keyword to destroy a user-defined object.

We can easily destroy a user-defined object as shown in the following Python code.

class Bank:
    Assets = 10
    def formatAssets(self):
        return "$" + str(assets)

del Bank

print(Bank)

#Output:
Error: Bank is not defined

Hopefully this article has been useful for you to understand how you can destroy objects in Python with the del keyword.