In Python, objects are never explicitly destroyed. However, they may be garbage-collected when they become unreachable.

The del statement deletes names, not objects. An object may be garbage collected as result of a del command, but only if the variable deleted holds the last reference to the object, or if the object becomes unreachable.

In CPython, the primary algorithm for garbage collection is reference counting. Essentially each object keeps count fo how many references point to it. As soon as that refcount reaches 0, the object is immediately destroyed: CPython calls the __del__ method on the object (if defined) and the frees the memory.

But sometimes, it is useful to have a reference to an object that does not keep it around longer than necessary. Week references to an object do not increase its reference count. A weak reference does not prevent the referent from being garbage collected.

The following example shows how a weakref.ref instance can be called to reach its referent.

import weakref
s = {0,1}
wref = weakref.ref(s)
print(wref) # <weakref at 0x10767bb88; to 'set' at 0x1076a5f28>
print(wref()) # {0, 1}

s = {2,3,4}
print(wref) # <weakref at 0x109871b88; dead>
print(wref()) # None
print(wref() is None) # True

WeekValueDictionary

The class WeekValueDictionary implements a mutable mapping where the values are weak reference to objects. When a referred object is garbage collected, the corresponding key is automatically removed from the WeekValueDictionary. This is commonly used for caching.

class Cheese:
    def __init__(self, kind):
        self.kind = kind

    def __repr__(self):
        return 'Cheese(%r)' % self.kind

import weakref
stock = weakref.WeakValueDictionary()
catalog = [Cheese('Red Leicester'), Cheese('Tilsit'),
            Cheese('Brie'), Cheese('Parmesan')]
for ce in catalog:
    stock[ce.kind] = ce

print(sorted(stock.keys())) # ['Brie', 'Parmesan', 'Red Leicester', 'Tilsit']
del catalog
print(sorted(stock.keys())) # ['Parmesan']
del ce
print(sorted(stock.keys())) # []

After catelog is deleted, most cheeses are gone from the stock except one. Because a temporary variable may cause an object to last longer than expected by holding a reference to it.

A counterpart to the WeakValueDictionary is WeakKeyDictionary in which the keys are week references. WeakKeyDictionary can be used to associate additional data with an object owned by other parts of an application without adding attributes to those objects.

Limitations of week references

Not every Python object may be the target of a weak reference. Basic int, tuple, list and dict instances may not be referents.

Reference

Fluent Python