__delitem__ — Easy Examples

Enables item deletion with del obj[key]

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Implementing __delitem__

Basic implementation of __delitem__ in a class.

python
class TrackedDict:
    def __init__(self):
        self._data = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}

    def __delitem__(self, key):
        print(f"Deleting key: {key}")
        del self._data[key]

d = TrackedDict()
del d["b"]
print(d._data)

__delitem__ enables item deletion with del obj[key]. Implementing it lets you customize how Python interacts with your objects.

__delitem__ in action

Seeing __delitem__ called by Python's built-in operations.

python
# How Python calls __delitem__ automatically
class Demo:
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

    def __delitem__(self, other):
        print(f"__delitem__ was called!")
        return self

d = Demo(42)
# This triggers __delitem__:
print(d)

Python automatically calls __delitem__ when you use the corresponding operator or function on your object.

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