How to force deletion of a python object?

Question

I am curious about the details of __del__ in python, when and why it should be used and what it shouldn\'t be used for. I\'ve learned the hard way that it is n

Answer 1

Perhaps you are looking for a context manager?

>>> class Foo(object):
...   def __init__(self):
...     self.bar = None
...   def __enter__(self):
...     if self.bar != 'open':
...       print 'opening the bar'
...       self.bar = 'open'
...   def __exit__(self, type_, value, traceback):
...     if self.bar != 'closed':
...       print 'closing the bar', type_, value, traceback
...       self.bar = 'close'
... 
>>> 
>>> with Foo() as f:
...     # oh no something crashes the program
...     sys.exit(0)
... 
opening the bar
closing the bar  0