Python: yield-and-delete

Question

How do I yield an object from a generator and forget it immediately, so that it doesn\'t take up memory?

For example, in the following function:

def grou         


        

Answer 1

If you really really want to get this functionality I suppose you could use a wrapper:

class Wrap:

    def __init__(self, val):
        self.val = val

    def unlink(self):
        val = self.val
        self.val = None
        return val

And could be used like

def grouper(iterable, chunksize):
    i = iter(iterable)
    while True:
        chunk = Wrap(list(itertools.islice(i, int(chunksize))))
        if not chunk.val:
            break
        yield chunk.unlink()

Which is essentially the same as what phihag does with pop() ;)