# Will a self reference prevent garbage collection?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/will-a-self-reference-prevent-garbage-collection/302277>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [December 25, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/will-a-self-reference-prevent-garbage-collection/302277 "2009-12-25T02:35:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ls\_ac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eada6e/32.png) [@ls\_ac](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ls_ac)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/will-a-self-reference-prevent-garbage-collection/302277/1 "2009-12-25T02:35:12Z")

</div>

Will a self reference prevent garbage collection?

eg:

```auto
public class Foo
{
    private var _self:Foo;

    public function Foo() { _self = this; }
}

...

var f = new Foo();
f = null;

```

Will the instantiation of Foo be garbage collected after f is set to null, or will it’s self-reference keep it in memory?