What are Python Operators

Let’s learn about what are Python operators.

In the Python programming language, the operators are used to perform operations on the values or variables. The operators can return results based on the type of operator being used.

The operators in Python are grouped based on the functionality they provide. Here is the list of types of operators in Python

• Arithmetic Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Comparison Operators
• Logical Operators
• Identity Operators
• Membership Operators
• Bitwise Operators

Here is the source code to demonstrate different Python operators

var1 = 10
var2 = 20

var3 = var1 + var2
print(var3)

var3 = var2 - var1
print(var3)

var1 = "Hello,"
var2 = " World!"

var3 = var1 + var2
print(var3)

Below is the output of the above code

30
10
Hello, World!

As you can see from the above output that the operators perform operations on the values and return a result based on the type of operator being used and the types of values being provided as input for operations.

Python Arithmetic Operators

Python arithmetic operators are mostly used with numbers or numeric values to perform the mathematical operations or evaluations that are required in the program logic. For example, if you are writing a code for a banking application then these operations will be required to support the banking operations.

Here is the list of arithmetic operators available in the Python programming language

Name	Symbol	Example
Addition	+	var1 + var2
Subtraction	–	var1 – var2
Division	/	var1 / var2
Multiplication	*	var1 * var2
Modulus	%	var1 % var2
Exponentiation	**	var1 ** var2
Floor division	//	var1 // var2

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python arithmetic operators

var1 = 10
var2 = 20

print(var1 + var2)
print(var2 - var1)
print(var1 / var2)
print(var1 * var2)
print(var1 % var2)
print(var2 ** var1)
print(var2 // var1)

Below is the output of the above code

30
10
0.5
200
10
10240000000000
2

As you can see from the above output we can use arithmetic operators in Python to perform mathematical calculations on the values and variables.

Python Assignment Operators

In Python programming language the assignment operators as the name suggest are used for assigning values to the variables.

Here is the list of Python assignment operators available in the Python programming language

Name	Symbol	Example
Assign	=	a = b
Add & assign	+=	a += b
Subtract & assign	-=	a -= b
Multiply & assign	*=	a *= b
Divide & assign	/=	a /= b
Modulus & assign	%=	a %= b
Divide & assign	//=	a //= b
Exponent & assign	**=	a **= b
Bitwise AND on operands and assign	&=	a &= b
Bitwise OR on operands and assign	|=	a |= b
Bitwise xOR on operands and assign	^=	a ^= b
Bitwise right shift on operands and assign	>>=	a >>= b
Bitwise left shift on operands and assign value	<<=	a <<= b

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python assignment operators

b = 5

a = b #Assign the value of the right side of the expression to the left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a += b #Add the right side operand with the left side operand and then assign the result to the left side operand

print(a)
a = 50

a -= b #Subtract the right side operand from the left side operand and then assign the result to the left side operand

print(a)
a = 50

a *= b #Multiply the right side operand with the left side operand and then assign the result to the left side operand

print(a)
a = 50

a /= b #Divide the left side operand with the right side operand and then assign the result to the left side operand

print(a)
a = 50

a %= b #Takes modulus using the left side and the right side operand and assign the result to left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a //= b #Divide the left side operand with the right side operand and then assign the floor of the result to the left side operand

print(a)
a = 50

a **= b #Calculate the exponent (raise power) value using operands and then assign the result to left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a &= b #Perform Bitwise AND on the left side and the right side operand and then assign the result to left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a |= b #Perform Bitwise OR on the left side and the right side operand and then assign the result to left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a ^= b #Perform Bitwise XOR on the left side and the right side operand and then assign the result to left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a >>= b #Perform Bitwise right shift on the left side and the right side operand and then assign the result to left operand

print(a)
a = 50

a <<= b #Perform Bitwise left shift on the left side and the right side operand and then assign the result to left operand

print(a)

Below is the output of the above code

5
55
45
250
10.0
0
10
312500000
0
55
55
1
1600

As you can see from the above output Python assignment operators are used to perform value assignments to the variables and also some mathematical calculations can also be done before assigning the values.

Python Comparison Operators

In Python programming language the comparison operators as the name suggest are used to compare values in the variables. All the Python comparisons using comparison operators return a boolean i.e. either true or false based on the values being compared.

Here is the list of Python comparison operators available in the Python programming language

Name	Symbol	Example
Equal	==	a == b
Not equal	!=	a != b
Greater than	>	a > b
Less than	<	a < b
Greater than or equal to	>=	a >= b
Less than or equal to	<=	a <= b

Equal – Returns true if both operands are equal
Not equal – Returns true if operands are not equal
Greater than – Returns true if the left operand is greater than the right
Less than – Returns true if the left operand is less than the right
Greater than or equal to – Returns true if the left operand is greater than or equal to the right
Less than or equal to – Returns true if the left operand is less than or equal to the right

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python comparison operators

a = 10
b = 20

print(a == b)
print(a != b )
print(a > b)
print(a < b)
print(a >= b)
print(a <= b)

Below is the output of the above code

False
True
False
True
False
True

As you can see from the above output that comparison operators return only boolean values either true or false.

Python Logical Operators

In Python programming language the logical operators are used to combine conditional statements. The Python logical operators perform the logical AND, logical OR, and logical NOT operations.

Here is the list of Python logical operators available in the Python programming language

Description	Operator	Example
Returns True if both statements are true	and	a < 10 and a < 20
Returns True if one of the statements is true	or	a < 10 or a < 20
Reverse the result, returns False if the result is true	not	not(a < 10 and a < 20)

and – returns true if both the conditional statements are true
or – returns true if either of the conditional statement is true
not – returns true if the operand is false

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python logical operators

# This is a sample Python script.

a = True
b = False

print(a and b)
print(a or b)
print(not a)

Below is the output of the above code

False
True
False

As you can see from the above output that “and” returns false if one statement is false, “or” returns true if any one statement is true & “not” returns false in operand is true.

Python Identity Operators

In Python programming language the identity operators are used to compare the objects. The Python identity operators do not compare if the objects are equal but compare if the objects are the same or not with the matching memory location.

Here is the list of Python identity operators available in the Python programming language

Description	Operator	Example
Returns True if both variables are the same object	is	a is b
Returns True if both variables are not the same object	is not	a is not b

is – return true if the objects are identical
is not – return true if the objects are not identical

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python identity operators

a = 10
b = 11
c = a

print(a is b)
print(a is c)
print(b is c)

Below is the output of the above code

False
True
False

As you can see from the above output object a is identical to c but a is not identical to b and also b is not identical to c

Python Membership Operators

In Python programming language there are two membership operators and they are used to check or validate the presence of a value in a sequence such as a string, list, tuple, etc.

Here is the list of Python membership operators available in the Python programming language

Description	Operator	Example
Returns True if a specified value is present in the object	in	a in b
Returns True if a specified value is not present in the object	not in	a not in b

in – The in operator evaluates to true if the specified character, string or element is present in a sequence.
not in – The not in operator evaluates to true if the specified character, string or element is not present in a sequence.

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python membership operators

seq1 = [2, 4, 6, 8, 12]

a = 6
b = 7

print(a in seq1)
print(b in seq1)
print(a not in seq1)
print(b not in seq1)

Below is the output of the above code

True
False
False
True

As you can see from the above output the Python membership operator is checking if the specified value is present in the sequence (list) or not.

Python Bitwise Operators

In Python programming language the bitwise operators as the name suggests are used to act on bits and perform bit-by-bit operations. The Python bitwise operators are used to perform the binary numbers.

Here is the list of Python bitwise operators available in the Python programming language

Name	Symbol	Example
AND	&	a & b
OR	|	a | b
XOR	^	a ^ b
NOT	~	~a
Zero fill left shift	<<	a <<
Signed right shift	>>	a >>

AND – Returns 1 If both the bits are 1 else returns 0
OR – Returns 1 If any of the bits is 1 else returns 0
XOR – Returns 1 if any one of the bits is 1 and the other is 0
NOT – Inverts all the bits
Zero fill left shift – Shifts the bits of the number to the left and fills 0 on voids right as a result
Signed right shift – Shifts the bits of the number to the right and fills 0 on voids left as a result

Here is the source code to demonstrate the use of Python bitwise operators

a = 10
b = 4

print(a & b)
print(a | b)
print(a ^ b)
print(~a)
print(a << 1)
print(a >> 1)

Below is the output of the above code

0
14
14
-11
20
5

From the above results, you can see the workings of the Python bitwise operators

Summary

You can also check my series on Python for Beginners – Series: Python Tutorial – Learn Python Programming for Beginners

References – Python Documentation

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