[Tutor] Question about the object.__del__(self) method

[Arup Rakshit]

Consider the below in simple class:

class RandomKlass:
    def __init__(self, x):
        self.x = x
    
    def __del__(self):
        print("Deleted…")

Now when I delete the object created from RandomKlass using `del` operator I see the output “Deleted…”. That means `del` operator calls the __del__ method if available.

from python_methods import RandomKlass
obj = RandomKlass(10)
del obj
# Deleted...
obj = RandomKlass(10)
obj1 = RandomKlass(10)
del obj
# Deleted...
del obj1
# Deleted...

Now why then the doc https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#object.__del__ says:

>   `del x` doesn’t directly call `x.__del__()` — the former decrements the reference count for `x`  by one, and the latter is only called when `x`’s reference count reaches zero.

Also what the reference count here means? I know that x can hold only one reference at a time.

Thanks,

Arup Rakshit
ar at zeit.io