# `del` statement ## Basic ```py a = 1 del a # error: [unresolved-reference] reveal_type(a) # revealed: Unknown # error: [invalid-syntax] "Invalid delete target" del 1 # error: [unresolved-reference] del a x, y = 1, 2 del x, y # error: [unresolved-reference] reveal_type(x) # revealed: Unknown # error: [unresolved-reference] reveal_type(y) # revealed: Unknown def cond() -> bool: return True b = 1 if cond(): del b # error: [possibly-unresolved-reference] reveal_type(b) # revealed: Literal[1] c = 1 if cond(): c = 2 else: del c # error: [possibly-unresolved-reference] reveal_type(c) # revealed: Literal[2] d = [1, 2, 3] def delete(): del d # error: [unresolved-reference] "Name `d` used when not defined" delete() reveal_type(d) # revealed: list[Unknown] def delete_element(): # When the `del` target isn't a name, it doesn't force local resolution. del d[0] print(d) def delete_global(): global d del d # We could lint that `d` is unbound in this trivial case, but because it's global we'd need to # be careful about false positives if `d` got reinitialized somehow in between the two `del`s. del d delete_global() # Again, the variable should have been removed, but we don't check it. reveal_type(d) # revealed: list[Unknown] def delete_nonlocal(): e = 2 def delete_nonlocal_bad(): del e # error: [unresolved-reference] "Name `e` used when not defined" def delete_nonlocal_ok(): nonlocal e del e # As with `global` above, we don't track that the nonlocal `e` is unbound. del e ``` ## `del` forces local resolution even if it's unreachable Without a `global x` or `nonlocal x` declaration in `foo`, `del x` in `foo` causes `print(x)` in an inner function `bar` to resolve to `foo`'s binding, in this case an unresolved reference / unbound local error: ```py x = 1 def foo(): print(x) # error: [unresolved-reference] "Name `x` used when not defined" if False: # Assigning to `x` would have the same effect here. del x def bar(): print(x) # error: [unresolved-reference] "Name `x` used when not defined" ``` ## But `del` doesn't force local resolution of `global` or `nonlocal` variables However, with `global x` in `foo`, `print(x)` in `bar` resolves in the global scope, despite the `del` in `foo`: ```py x = 1 def foo(): global x def bar(): # allowed, refers to `x` in the global scope reveal_type(x) # revealed: Unknown | Literal[1] bar() del x # allowed, deletes `x` in the global scope (though we don't track that) ``` `nonlocal x` has a similar effect, if we add an extra `enclosing` scope to give it something to refer to: ```py def enclosing(): x = 2 def foo(): nonlocal x def bar(): # allowed, refers to `x` in `enclosing` reveal_type(x) # revealed: Literal[2] bar() del x # allowed, deletes `x` in `enclosing` (though we don't track that) ``` ## Delete attributes If an attribute is referenced after being deleted, it will be an error at runtime. But we don't treat this as an error (because there may have been a redefinition by a method between the `del` statement and the reference). However, deleting an attribute invalidates type narrowing by assignment, and the attribute type will be the originally declared type. ### Invalidate narrowing ```py class C: x: int = 1 c = C() del c.x reveal_type(c.x) # revealed: int # error: [unresolved-attribute] del c.non_existent c.x = 1 reveal_type(c.x) # revealed: Literal[1] del c.x reveal_type(c.x) # revealed: int ``` ### Delete an instance attribute definition ```py class C: x: int = 1 c = C() reveal_type(c.x) # revealed: int del C.x c = C() # This attribute is unresolved, but we won't check it for now. reveal_type(c.x) # revealed: int ``` ## Delete items Deleting an item also invalidates the narrowing by the assignment, but accessing the item itself is still valid. ```py def f(l: list[int]): del l[0] # If the length of `l` was 1, this will be a runtime error, # but if it was greater than that, it will not be an error. reveal_type(l[0]) # revealed: int # error: [invalid-argument-type] del l["string"] l[0] = 1 reveal_type(l[0]) # revealed: Literal[1] del l[0] reveal_type(l[0]) # revealed: int ```