Python del Statement

The Python del keyword is used to delete objects. Its syntax is:

# delete obj_name
del obj_name

Here, obj_name can be variables, user-defined objects, lists, items within lists, dictionaries etc.


Example 1: Delete an user-defined object

In the program, we have deleted MyClass using del MyClass statement.


Example 2: Delete variable, list, and dictionary


Example 3: Remove items, slices from a list

The del statement can be used to delete an item at a given index. It can also be used to remove slices from a list.


Example 4: Remove a key:value pair from a dictionary


del With Tuples and Strings

Note: You can't delete items of tuples and strings in Python. It's because tuples and strings are immutables; objects that can't be changed after their creation.

my_tuple = (1, 2, 3)

# Error: 'tuple' object doesn't support item deletion
del my_tuple[1]

However, you can delete an entire tuple or string.


my_tuple = (1, 2, 3)

# deleting tuple
del my_tuple