Inner workings of this Python feature: Can a Python data structure reference itself?

[Ian Kelly]

On Sat, May 2, 2015 at 7:57 PM, Tim Chase <python.list at tim.thechases.com> wrote:
> So it sounds like you have to request such a mark-and-sweep from
> the gc module.

You *can* request it. But as long as it hasn't been explicitly
disabled (by calling gc.disable()), the mark-and-sweep garbage
collection will also run automatically -- just not necessarily
immediately.