contacts = {
  "tom": "122-444-333",
  "jim": "412-1231-121",
  "ron": "8912-121-1212",
  "jake": "333-1881-121"
}


copy_contacts = contacts.copy()

contacts.clear()  # delete all the elements of a dictionary

print(contacts)

print(copy_contacts)    # however, copy_contacts still contains a copy of the original dictionary object