How does Python manage memory?

Python manages memory automatically. All objects live in a private heap, and Python frees them when they are no longer needed. It uses two ideas for this:

• Reference counting: every object keeps a count of how many names point to it. When the count becomes zero, the memory is freed at once.
• Garbage collector: finds groups of objects that point to each other (cycles) and are no longer used, which reference counting cannot free. It is available in the gc module.

import sys

a = [1, 2, 3]
b = a
print(sys.getrefcount(a))

Output:

The count is 3 because of a, b and the temporary reference made while calling getrefcount(). You do not free memory yourself in Python, but you should avoid keeping big objects alive longer than needed.

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