[python] How do I clear all variables in the middle of a Python script?

I am looking for something similar to 'clear' in Matlab: A command/function which removes all variables from the workspace, releasing them from system memory. Is there such a thing in Python?

EDIT: I want to write a script which at some point clears all the variables.

In Spyder one can configure the IPython console for each Python file to clear all variables before each execution in the Menu Run -> Configuration -> General settings -> Remove all variables before execution.

If you write a function then once you leave it all names inside disappear.

The concept is called namespace and it's so good, it made it into the Zen of Python:

Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

The namespace of IPython can likewise be reset with the magic command %reset -f. (The -f means "force"; in other words, "don't ask me if I really want to delete all the variables, just do it.")

Isn't the easiest way to create a class contining all the needed variables? Then you have one object with all curretn variables, and if you need you can overwrite this variable?

from IPython import get_ipython;   
get_ipython().magic('reset -sf')

This is a modified version of Alex's answer. We can save the state of a module's namespace and restore it by using the following 2 methods...

__saved_context__ = {}

def saveContext():
    import sys
    __saved_context__.update(sys.modules[__name__].__dict__)

def restoreContext():
    import sys
    names = sys.modules[__name__].__dict__.keys()
    for n in names:
        if n not in __saved_context__:
            del sys.modules[__name__].__dict__[n]

saveContext()

hello = 'hi there'
print hello             # prints "hi there" on stdout

restoreContext()

print hello             # throws an exception

You can also add a line "clear = restoreContext" before calling saveContext() and clear() will work like matlab's clear.

In the idle IDE there is Shell/Restart Shell. Cntrl-F6 will do it.

The globals() function returns a dictionary, where keys are names of objects you can name (and values, by the way, are ids of these objects) The exec() function takes a string and executes it as if you just type it in a python console. So, the code is

for i in list(globals().keys()):
    if(i[0] != '_'):
        exec('del {}'.format(i))

No, you are best off restarting the interpreter

IPython is an excellent replacement for the bundled interpreter and has the %reset command which usually works