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<qhelp>

<overview>

<p>The <code>__del__</code> special method is designed to be called by the Python virtual machine when an object is no longer reachable,

but before it is destroyed. Calling a <code>__del__</code> method explicitly may cause an object to enter an unsafe state.</p>

</overview>

<recommendation>

<p>If explicit clean up of an object is required, a <code>close()</code> method should be called or, better still,

wrap the use of the object in a <code>with</code> statement.

</p>

</recommendation>

<example>

<p>In the first example, rather than close the zip file in a conventional manner, the programmer has called <code>__del__</code>.

A safer alternative is shown in the second example.

</p>

<sample src="ExplicitCallToDel.py" />

</example>

<references>

<li>Python Standard Library: <a href="http://docs.python.org/reference/datamodel.html#object.__del__">object.__del__</a></li>

</references>

</qhelp>