gc.collect()

gc.collect(generations=2)

With no arguments, run a full collection. The optional argument generation may be an integer specifying which generation to collect (from 0 to 2). A ValueError is raised if the generation number is invalid. The number of unreachable objects found is returned.

The free lists maintained for a number of built-in types are cleared whenever a full collection or collection of the highest generation (2) is run. Not all items in some free lists may be freed due to the particular implementation, in particular float.