How to delete an instantiated object Python?

object.__del__(self) is called when the instance is about to be destroyed.

>>> class Test:
...     def __del__(self):
...         print "deleted"
... 
>>> test = Test()
>>> del test
deleted

Object is not deleted unless all of its references are removed(As quoted by ethan)

Also, From Python official doc reference:

del x doesn’t directly call x.__del__() — the former decrements the
reference count for x by one, and the latter is only called when x‘s
reference count reaches zero