How do I clear all variables in the middle of a Python script?

user_110028 0
Viewed 392855

I am looking for something similar to 'clear' in Matlab: A command/function which removes all variables from the workspace, releasing them from system memory. Is there such a thing in Python?

EDIT: I want to write a script which at some point clears all the variables.

python
11 Answers

In Spyder one can configure the IPython console for each Python file to clear all variables before each execution in the Menu Run -> Configuration -> General settings -> Remove all variables before execution.

user_30211340

Note: you likely don't actually want this.

The globals() function returns a dictionary, where keys are names of objects you can name (and values, by the way, are ids of these objects) The exec() function takes a string and executes it as if you just type it in a python console. So, the code is

for i in globals().keys():
    if not i.startswith('_'):
        exec('del ' + i)

This will remove all the objects with names not starting with underscores, including functions, classes, imported libraries, etc.

user_112485080

In the idle IDE there is Shell/Restart Shell. Cntrl-F6 will do it.

user_57095680

Isn't the easiest way to create a class contining all the needed variables? Then you have one object with all curretn variables, and if you need you can overwrite this variable?

user_112615460

A very easy way to delete a variable is by using the del function.

For example

a = 30
print(a) #this would print "30"

del(a) #this deletes the variable
print(a) #now, if you try to print 'a', you will get
         #an error saying 'a' is not defined
user_144615960

This worked:

for v in dir():
    exec('del '+ v)
    del v
user_53910910
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