python - Different ways of deleting lists

Question

I want to understand why:

• a = [];
• del a; and
• del a[:];

behave so differently.

I ran a test for each to illustrate the differences I witnessed:

>>> # Test 1: Reset with a = []
... 
>>> a = [1,2,3]
>>> b = a
>>> a = []
>>> a
[]
>>> b
[1, 2, 3]
>>> 
>>> # Test 2: Reset with del a
... 
>>> a = [1,2,3]
>>> b = a
>>> del a
>>> a
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'a' is not defined
>>> b
[1, 2, 3]
>>> 
>>> # Test 3: Reset with del a[:]
... 
>>> a = [1,2,3]
>>> b = a
>>> del a[:]
>>> a
[]
>>> b
[]

I did find Different ways of clearing lists, but I didn't find an explanation for the differences in behaviour. Can anyone clarify this?

Answer 1

Test 1

>>> a = [1,2,3] # set a to point to a list [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = a # set b to what a is currently pointing at
>>> a = [] # now you set a to point to an empty list

# Step 1: A --> [1 2 3]

# Step 2: A --> [1 2 3] <-- B

# Step 3: A --> [     ] [1 2 3] <-- B

# at this point a points to a new empty list
# whereas b points to the original list of a

Test 2

>>> a = [1,2,3] # set a to point to a list [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = a # set b to what a is currently pointing at
>>> del a # delete the reference from a to the list

# Step 1: A --> [1 2 3]

# Step 2: A --> [1 2 3] <-- B

# Step 3:       [1 2 3] <-- B

# so a no longer exists because the reference
# was destroyed but b is not affected because
# b still points to the original list

Test 3

>>> a = [1,2,3] # set a to point to a list [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = a # set b to what a is currently pointing at
>>> del a[:] # delete the contents of the original

# Step 1: A --> [1 2 3]

# Step 2: A --> [1 2 3] <-- B

# Step 2: A --> [     ] <-- B

# both a and b are empty because they were pointing 
# to the same list whose elements were just removed