How does Python manage automatic garbage collection of objects related by cyclic references?

Python uses reference counting for memory management: each object keeps track of the number of references to itself, and when this count reaches zero, the object is deleted.

However, reference counting cannot handle cyclic references, where objects refer to each other forming a cycle. To solve this, Python has an additional garbage collector that periodically searches for object cycles with no external references and cleans them up.

This collector is based on cycle detection algorithms and works in the gc module. It can be controlled and configured if needed.

Example of using the gc module:

import gc

# Enable automatic garbage collection
gc.enable()

# Run garbage collection manually
gc.collect()

Thus, Python efficiently manages object cleanup even if they are linked by cyclic references.