In [7]: l = range(5)

In [8]: id(l)
Out[8]: 158453516

In [9]: l = []

In [10]: id(l)
Out[10]: 158096716

In [11]: l = range(5)

In [12]: id(l)
Out[12]: 158453516

In [13]: l[:] = []

In [14]: id(l)
Out[14]: 158453516