What happens inside Python when deleting an object that references itself?

In Python, objects are managed using reference counting and a garbage collector for cyclic references.

If an object references itself, its reference count will not become zero when external references are removed, because there is a reference to it within the object itself. In this case, normal reference counting will not delete the object immediately.

For such cyclic references, there is a garbage collector (gc) that periodically searches for object cycles with no external references and deletes them, calling destructors if they exist.

Thus, when deleting an object that references itself, Python will first decrease the reference count, but the object will remain in memory due to the internal reference. Then, the garbage collector will detect that there are no external references to the object and will free the memory.