Python Operators (With Examples) (2024)

Operators are special symbols that perform operations on variables and values. For example,

print(5 + 6) # 11

Here, + is an operator that adds two numbers: 5 and 6.

Types of Python Operators

Here's a list of different types of Python operators that we will learn in this tutorial.

1. Arithmetic Operators
2. Assignment Operators
3. Comparison Operators
4. Logical Operators
5. Bitwise Operators
6. Special Operators

1. Python Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. For example,

sub = 10 - 5 # 5

Here, - is an arithmetic operator that subtracts two values or variables.

Example 1: Arithmetic Operators in Python

a = 7b = 2# additionprint ('Sum: ', a + b) # subtractionprint ('Subtraction: ', a - b) # multiplicationprint ('Multiplication: ', a * b) # divisionprint ('Division: ', a / b) # floor divisionprint ('Floor Division: ', a // b)# moduloprint ('Modulo: ', a % b) # a to the power bprint ('Power: ', a ** b) 

Output

Sum: 9Subtraction: 5Multiplication: 14Division: 3.5Floor Division: 3Modulo: 1Power: 49

In the above example, we have used multiple arithmetic operators,

• + to add a and b
• - to subtract b from a
• * to multiply a and b
• / to divide a by b
• // to floor divide a by b
• % to get the remainder
• ** to get a to the power b

2. Python Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables. For example,

# assign 5 to x x = 5

Here, = is an assignment operator that assigns 5 to x.

Here's a list of different assignment operators available in Python.

Example 2: Assignment Operators

# assign 10 to aa = 10# assign 5 to bb = 5 # assign the sum of a and b to aa += b # a = a + bprint(a)# Output: 15

Here, we have used the += operator to assign the sum of a and b to a.

Similarly, we can use any other assignment operators as per our needs.

3. Python Comparison Operators

Comparison operators compare two values/variables and return a boolean result: True or False. For example,

a = 5b = 2print (a > b) # True

Here, the > comparison operator is used to compare whether a is greater than b or not.

Example 3: Comparison Operators

a = 5b = 2# equal to operatorprint('a == b =', a == b)# not equal to operatorprint('a != b =', a != b)# greater than operatorprint('a > b =', a > b)# less than operatorprint('a < b =', a < b)# greater than or equal to operatorprint('a >= b =', a >= b)# less than or equal to operatorprint('a <= b =', a <= b)

Output

a == b = Falsea != b = Truea > b = Truea < b = Falsea >= b = Truea <= b = False

Note: Comparison operators are used in decision-making and loops. We'll discuss more of the comparison operator and decision-making in later tutorials.

4. Python Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to check whether an expression is True or False. They are used in decision-making. For example,

a = 5b = 6print((a > 2) and (b >= 6)) # True

Here, and is the logical operator AND. Since both a > 2 and b >= 6 are True, the result is True.

Example 4: Logical Operators

# logical ANDprint(True and True) # Trueprint(True and False) # False# logical ORprint(True or False) # True# logical NOTprint(not True) # False

Note: Here is the truth table for these logical operators.

5. Python Bitwise operators

Bitwise operators act on operands as if they were strings of binary digits. They operate bit by bit, hence the name.

For example, 2 is 10 in binary, and 7 is 111.

In the table below: Let x = 10 (0000 1010 in binary) and y = 4 (0000 0100 in binary)

6. Python Special operators

Python language offers some special types of operators like the identity operator and the membership operator. They are described below with examples.

Identity operators

In Python, is and is not are used to check if two values are located at the same memory location.

It's important to note that having two variables with equal values doesn't necessarily mean they are identical.

Example 4: Identity operators in Python

x1 = 5y1 = 5x2 = 'Hello'y2 = 'Hello'x3 = [1,2,3]y3 = [1,2,3]print(x1 is not y1) # prints Falseprint(x2 is y2) # prints Trueprint(x3 is y3) # prints False

Here, we see that x1 and y1 are integers of the same values, so they are equal as well as identical. The same is the case with x2 and y2 (strings).

But x3 and y3 are lists. They are equal but not identical. It is because the interpreter locates them separately in memory, although they are equal.

Membership operators

In Python, in and not in are the membership operators. They are used to test whether a value or variable is found in a sequence (string, list, tuple, set and dictionary).

In a dictionary, we can only test for the presence of a key, not the value.

Example 5: Membership operators in Python

message = 'Hello world'dict1 = {1:'a', 2:'b'}# check if 'H' is present in message stringprint('H' in message) # prints True# check if 'hello' is present in message stringprint('hello' not in message) # prints True# check if '1' key is present in dict1print(1 in dict1) # prints True# check if 'a' key is present in dict1print('a' in dict1) # prints False

Output

TrueTrueTrueFalse

Here, 'H' is in message, but 'hello' is not present in message (remember, Python is case-sensitive).

Similarly, 1 is key, and 'a' is the value in dictionary dict1. Hence, 'a' in y returns False.

Also Read:

• Precedence and Associativity of operators in Python
• Python Operator Overloading