Python- Size of int, float etc from sys.getsizeof()

Question

I am trying to compare sizes of data types in Python with sys.getsizeof(). However, for integers and floats, it returns same - 24 (not customary 4 or 8 bytes). Also, size of an array declared with array.array() with 4 integer elements is returned 72 (not 96). and with 4 float elements- 88 (not 96). What is going on?

import array, sys
arr1 = array.array('d', [1,2,3,4])
arr2 = array.array('i', [1,2,3,4])
print sys.getsizeof(arr1[1]), sys.getsizeof(arr2[1]) # 24, 24
print sys.getsizeof(arr1), sys.getsizeof(arr2) # 88, 72

See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/449560/how-do-i-determine-the-size-of-an-object-in-python — Paul Cornelius, May 12 '17 at 06:33

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 12 '17 at 06:50

The function sys.getsizeof() returns the amount of space the Python object takes. Not the amount of space you would need to represent the data in that object in the memory of the underlying system.

Python objects have overhead to cover reference counting (for garbage collection) and other implementation-related stuff. In addition, an array is not a naive sequence of floats or ints; the data structure has a fair amount of stuff under the hood that keeps track of datatype, number of elements and so on. That's where the 'd' or 'i' lives, for example.

To get the answers I think you are expecting, try

print (arr1.itemsize * len(arr1))
print (arr2.itemsize * len(arr2))

Python- Size of int, float etc from sys.getsizeof()

1 Answers1