<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>6.5 The del statement </title> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="6.5 The del statement "> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="ref"> <META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document"> <META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset="> <link rel="STYLESHEET" href="ref.css"> <link rel="first" href="ref.html"> <link rel="contents" href="contents.html" title="Contents"> <link rel="index" href="genindex.html" title="Index"> <LINK REL="next" href="print.html"> <LINK REL="previous" href="pass.html"> <LINK REL="up" href="simple.html"> <LINK REL="next" href="print.html"> </head> <body> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td><A href="pass.html"><img src="../icons/previous.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Previous Page" width="32"></A></td> <td><A href="simple.html"><img src="../icons/up.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Up One Level" width="32"></A></td> <td><A href="print.html"><img src="../icons/next.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Next Page" width="32"></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Python Reference Manual</td> <td><A href="contents.html"><img src="../icons/contents.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Contents" width="32"></A></td> <td><img src="../icons/blank.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="" width="32"></td> <td><A href="genindex.html"><img src="../icons/index.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Index" width="32"></A></td> </tr></table> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" href="pass.html">6.4 The pass statement</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" href="simple.html">6. Simple statements</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" href="print.html">6.6 The print statement</A> <br><hr> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H1><A NAME="SECTION008500000000000000000"> </A> <BR> 6.5 The <tt class="keyword">del</tt> statement </H1> <a name="l2h-322"> </a> <P> <dl><dd class="grammar"> <div class="productions"> <table cellpadding="2"> <tr valign="baseline"> <td><code><a name="tok-del_stmt">del_stmt</a></code></td> <td> ::= </td> <td><code>"del" <a href="assignment.html#tok-target_list">target_list</a></code></td></tr> </table> </div> <a class="grammar-footer" href="grammar.txt" type="text/plain" >Download entire grammar as text.</a> </dd></dl> <P> Deletion is recursively defined very similar to the way assignment is defined. Rather that spelling it out in full details, here are some hints. <a name="l2h-323"> </a> <P> Deletion of a target list recursively deletes each target, from left to right. <P> Deletion of a name removes the binding of that name (which must exist) from the local or global namespace, depending on whether the name occurs in a <tt class="keyword">global</tt> statement in the same code block. <a name="l2h-324"> </a> <P> Deletion of attribute references, subscriptions and slicings is passed to the primary object involved; deletion of a slicing is in general equivalent to assignment of an empty slice of the right type (but even this is determined by the sliced object). <a name="l2h-325"> </a> <P> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <p><hr> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td><A href="pass.html"><img src="../icons/previous.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Previous Page" width="32"></A></td> <td><A href="simple.html"><img src="../icons/up.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Up One Level" width="32"></A></td> <td><A href="print.html"><img src="../icons/next.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Next Page" width="32"></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Python Reference Manual</td> <td><A href="contents.html"><img src="../icons/contents.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Contents" width="32"></A></td> <td><img src="../icons/blank.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="" width="32"></td> <td><A href="genindex.html"><img src="../icons/index.gif" border="0" height="32" alt="Index" width="32"></A></td> </tr></table> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" href="pass.html">6.4 The pass statement</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" href="simple.html">6. Simple statements</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" href="print.html">6.6 The print statement</A> <hr> <span class="release-info">Release 2.2, documentation updated on December 21, 2001.</span> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <ADDRESS> See <i><a href="about.html">About this document...</a></i> for information on suggesting changes. </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>