counting references to an instance

[Brian]

Hello;

Is it possible to get an object to return the number of references there
are to itself?

Ex:

class test(object):
pass

a = test()
b = a

# Should print "2", if I knew the name of the method.
print a.refCount()

Many thanks,

Brian.

 

[Thomas Heller]

Hello;

Is it possible to get an object to return the number of references there
are to itself?

Ex:

class test(object):
pass

a = test()
b = a

# Should print "2", if I knew the name of the method.
print a.refCount()

In Python debug builds, there's the sys.getrefcount() function.

Thomas

 

[Aahz]

Is it possible to get an object to return the number of references there
are to itself?

Ex:

class test(object):
pass

a = test()
b = a

# Should print "2", if I knew the name of the method.
print a.refCount()

sys.getrefcount(a) will do the trick -- but it will print 3. Can you
figure out why?
--
Aahz ([email protected]) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"The joy of coding Python should be in seeing short, concise, readable
classes that express a lot of action in a small amount of clear code --
not in reams of trivial code that bores the reader to death." --GvR

 

[Brian]

sys.getrefcount(a) will do the trick -- but it will print 3. Can you
figure out why?

Does the instance of test contain a reference to itself?

Brian.

 

[Aahz]

Does the instance of test contain a reference to itself?

Nope. Robert Brewer's response explained it.
--
Aahz ([email protected]) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"The joy of coding Python should be in seeing short, concise, readable
classes that express a lot of action in a small amount of clear code --
not in reams of trivial code that bores the reader to death." --GvR

 

[Michael Hudson]

In Python debug builds, there's the sys.getrefcount() function.

In *all* builds, there's sys.getrefcount(). Are you thinking of
sys.gettotalrefcount()?

 

[Thomas Heller]

In *all* builds, there's sys.getrefcount(). Are you thinking of
sys.gettotalrefcount()?

Yes, probably. Thanks for the correction.

Thomas