Unload Modules

Curtis Jensen cjensen at bioeng.ucsd.edu
Fri Nov 10 12:46:40 EST 2000


Steve Juranich wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 9 Nov 2000, Curtis Jensen wrote:
> 
> > I can't seem to find a clear answer on this, but how do I remove an
> > imported module?  I have some C modules that I import, the modules only
> > contain function calls.  However, they are pretty big, and I'd like to
> > unload these modules after I am done with them, in order to save on
> > memory.  I don't have the source for these modules.
> >
> > How can I unload these modules from within Python?  Thanks.
> >
> 
> AFAIU, all you need to do is 'del <module_name>'.
> 
> HTH-ly y'rs,

I tried this.  It removes the name from the namespace.  However, it
doesn't drop the memory usage of python.

ie.
Python 1.5.2 (#4, Sep  5 2000, 10:29:12) [C] on irix646
Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam

                              Memory Usage: (As reported from top)
>>>                           5MB (Python initual size)
>>> import my_module          19MB 
>>> del my_module             19MB (Size didn't change)          

-- 
Curtis Jensen
cjensen at bioeng.ucsd.edu
http://www-bioeng.ucsd.edu/~cjensen/
FAX (425) 740-1451



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