Python Programming (Basics)- Operators In Python

Table of Contents

Operators in Python

Operator is a symbol used in various computations performed on operands.
For example:
>>>20+3
here 20 and 3 are operands and ‘+’ is operator.

Types of Operators in Python

Depending upon the number of operands and required computations ,operators are divided in following major types:
1. Arithmetic Operator
2. Assignment Operator
3. Comparison/Relational Operator
4. Bit-wise Operator
5. Logical Operator
6. Membership Operator
7. Identity Operator

Arithmetic Operator

Arithmetic operators are used for mathematical calculations like addition, subtraction, modulus, division etc.

Operator	Description	Examples
+	It adds value on either sides of operator or can be used as unary operatotr	a=8 b=2 a+b=10
-	It subtracts value of right operand from left operand or it can be used as unary minus	a=8 b=2 a-b=6
*	Multiplication of two operands	a=8 b=2 a*b=16
/	Divides left operand with right operand	a=8 b=2 a/b=4.0
// (Floor operator)	This is used to carry out floor division ie. removes decimal values	a=8 b=2 a//b=4
%(modulus)	It is used to find remainder of division	a=8 b=2 a%b=0
**(exponent)	It is used to perform exponential calculation on operators(ie, left operand raised to the power of right)	a=8 b=2 a**b=64

Assignment Operator

‘=’ sign is the basic assignment operator used to assign values to variables.
In addition ,Python has a set of short hand assignment operators as follows:

Operator	Description	Example	Equivalent to
=	It is used to assign values of right side operands to left side	>>>a=5 >>>a 5 >>>b='itvoyagers" >>>b itvoyagers	a=5 b="itvoyagers"
+=	It is used to add values of right side operands to left side operand and the result is assigned to left operand	x+=4	x=x+4
-=	It is used to subtract values of right side operands from left side operand and the result is assigned to left operand	x-=4	x=x-4
*=	It is used to multiply values of both operands and the result is assigned to left operand	x*=4	x=x*4
/=	It is used to divide values of left side operands by right side operand and the result is assigned to left operand	x/=4	x=x/5
%=	It is used to divide values of left side operands by right side operand and the resulting reminder is assigned to left operand	x%=4	x=x%4
**=	It performs Exponential calculation and result is assigned to left operand	x**=4	x=x**4
//=	It is used to divide values of left side operands by right side operand and the result is assigned to left operand by removing decimal places	x//=4	x=x//4

Note : Other operator like logical , bit-wise etc can also be used as short hand assignment operator.

Comparison/Relational Operator

It is used to compare operands.It is also called as Relational operator.
It returns Boolean values as output (True or False).

Operator	Description	Example
== (equal to)	This returns true if both operands are true otherwise false	>>> a=8 >>> b=2 >>> c=8 >>> a==b False >>> a==c True
> (greater than)	This returns True if left operand is greater than right operand otherwise false	>>> a=8 >>> b=2 >>> c=1 >>> a>b True >>> c>b False
< (less than)	This returns True if left operand is less than right operand otherwise false	>>> a=8 >>> b=2 >>> c=10 >>> a False >>> a True
>= (greater than or equal to)	This returns True if left operand is greater than or equal to right operand otherwise false	>>> a=5 >>> b=3 >>> c=5 >>> a>=c True >>> b>=a False >>> a>=b True
<= (less than or equal to)	This returns True if left operand is less than or equal to right operand otherwise false	>>> a=8 >>> b=2 >>> c=2 >>> a<=b False >>> b<=c True >>> c<=a True
!= (not equal to)	This returns True when operands are not equal otherwise false	>>> a=8 >>> b=2 >>> c=8 >>> a!=b True >>> a!=c False

Bitwise Operator

It is used to perform operation on bit.
It performs bit by bit operations.

Operator	Name	Description	Example
&	Binary AND	Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both the operands. i.e. returns 1 when both operands are 1 and 0 otherwise	>>> w=5 >>> a=6 >>> w & a 4 >>> bin(a) '0b110' >>> bin(w) '0b101' >>> bin(4) '0b100' >>>
\|	Binary OR	Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in any of the operands. i.e. returns 1 when either of operand is 1 and 0 otherwise	>>> w=5 >>> a=6 >>> w \| a 7 >>> bin(a) '0b110' >>> bin(w) '0b101' >>> bin(7) '0b111'
^	Binary XOR	It copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not in both. i.e.returns 1 if one operand is 1 and other is 0 and 0 otherwise	>>> w=5 >>> a=6 >>> w ^ a 3 >>> bin(a) '0b110' >>> bin(w) '0b101' >>> bin(3) '0b11'
~	Binary Ones Complement	It is unary operator and has effect of flipping bits	>>> w=5 >>> bin(w) '0b101' >>> ~w -6 >>> bin(-6) '-0b110'
<<	Binary Left Shift	The left operand value is moved to left by the number of bits specified in the right operand	>>> w=5 >>> w << 2 20 >>> bin(20) '0b10100'
>>	Binary Right Shift	The left operand value is moved to right by the number of bits specified in the right operand	>>> w=5 >>> w >> 2 1 >>> bin(1) '0b1'

Logical Operator

This operator is used to perform logical operations used logical and, or and not.These operators are case sensitive.
It returns Boolean values as output (True or False).

Operator	Description	Example
and	Logical AND returns True if both operands are True.	>>> p=100 >>> q=500 >>> r=700 >>> q>p and q>r False >>> q>p and r>q True
or	Logical OR returns True if either of the operands is True.	>>> p=100 >>> q=500 >>> r=700 >>> p>q or q>r False >>> q>p or q>r True
not	Logical NOT is used to reverse the state of operand.	>>> a='' >>> not a True >>> b=10 >>> not b False >>> not q>p False

Membership Operator

This operator is used to check if given variable is a part of specified sequence or not.
This operator (in and not in) can be used with strings, lists etc
It returns Boolean values as output (True or False).

Operators	Description	Example
in	It returns True if it finds variable in specified sequence , False otherwise	>>> 'I' in 'INDIA' True >>> 'i' in 'INDIA' False
not in	It returns True if it does not find variable in specified sequence, False otherwise	>>> 'V' not in 'ITVoyagers' False >>> 'v' not in 'ITVoyagers' True

Identity Operator

This operator is used to compare memory location of two objects.
id() is used to show memory location of any object.
This operator (is and is not) can be used compare memory location of two objects.
It returns Boolean values as output (True or False).

Operators	Description	Example
is	It returns True if the variable on both sides of operator are pointing to same object ,False otherwise	>>> f=88 >>> o=100 >>> g=88 >>> id(f) 1872877376 >>> id(g) 1872877376 >>> id(o) 1872877568 >>> f is o False >>> f is g True
is not	It returns True if the variable on both sides of operator are pointing to different object ,False otherwise	>>> f=88 >>> o=100 >>> g=88 >>> id(f) 1872877376 >>> id(g) 1872877376 >>> id(o) 1872877568 >>> f is not o True >>> f is not g False