Operators in Python

Operators are special symbols in Python that perform operations on values and variables. They are essential for performing various computations, comparisons, and logical operations.

In this article, we will explore all types of operators in Python with explanations and programming examples.

What are Operators?

Operators are symbols that tell the Python interpreter to perform a specific operation. The values or variables on which these operators act are called operands. For example, in the expression 5 + 3, + is the operator, and 5 and 3 are the operands.

Types of Operators in Python

Python supports the following types of operators:

1. Arithmetic Operators
2. Assignment Operators
3. Comparison Operators
4. Logical Operators
5. Bitwise Operators
6. Membership Operators
7. Identity Operators

Let’s understand each of these categories in detail.

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical calculations.

Example

x = 10
y = 3

print("Addition:", x + y)       # Output: 13
print("Subtraction:", x - y)    # Output: 7
print("Multiplication:", x * y) # Output: 30
print("Division:", x / y)       # Output: 3.3333333333333335
print("Floor Division:", x // y)  # Output: 3
print("Modulus:", x % y)        # Output: 1
print("Exponentiation:", x ** y)  # Output: 1000

Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables.

Example

x = 10

x += 5  # x = x + 5
print(x)  # Output: 15

x -= 3  # x = x - 3
print(x)  # Output: 12

x *= 2  # x = x * 2
print(x)  # Output: 24

x /= 4  # x = x / 4
print(x)  # Output: 6.0

x //= 2 # x = x // 2
print(x) # Output: 3.0

x %= 2  # x = x % 2
print(x)  # Output: 1.0

x **= 3 # x = x ** 3
print(x) # Output: 1.0

Comparison Operators

Comparison operators are used to compare values. They return True or False.

Example

x = 10
y = 5

print("Equal to:", x == y)            # Output: False
print("Not equal to:", x != y)        # Output: True
print("Greater than:", x > y)          # Output: True
print("Less than:", x < y)            # Output: False
print("Greater than or equal to:", x >= y)  # Output: True
print("Less than or equal to:", x <= y)     # Output: False

Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to combine or modify conditional statements.

Example

x = True
y = False

print("AND:", x and y)  # Output: False
print("OR:", x or y)    # Output: True
print("NOT x:", not x)  # Output: False
print("NOT y:", not y)  # Output: True

a = 5
print((a > 3) and (a < 10)) #Output: True
print((a > 3) or (a < 10))  #Output: True
print(not(a > 3))          #Output: False

Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators perform operations on individual bits of data.

Examples

x = 10  # Binary: 00001010
y = 4   # Binary: 00000100

print("Bitwise AND:", x & y)    # Output: 0  (00000000)
print("Bitwise OR:", x | y)     # Output: 14 (00001110)
print("Bitwise XOR:", x ^ y)    # Output: 14 (00001110)
print("Bitwise NOT:", ~x)      # Output: -11 (11110101)
print("Left shift:", x << 2)     # Output: 40 (00101000)
print("Right shift:", x >> 2)    # Output: 2  (00000010)

Membership Operators

Membership operators are used to check if a sequence is present in an object.

Example

my_list = [1, 2, 3, "apple", "banana"]

print("1 in my_list:", 1 in my_list)         # Output: True
print("4 in my_list:", 4 in my_list)         # Output: False
print("'apple' in my_list:", "apple" in my_list)  # Output: True
print("'orange' not in my_list:", "orange" not in my_list)  # Output: True

Identity Operators

Identity operators are used to compare the memory locations of two objects.

Example

x = [1, 2, 3]
y = [1, 2, 3]
z = x

print("x is y:", x is y)        # Output: False (different objects)
print("x is z:", x is z)        # Output: True  (same object)
print("x is not y:", x is not y)  # Output: True
print("x is not z:", x is not z)  # Output: False

Operator Precedence

Operator precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated in an expression. In the following table you’ll find the precedence of operators in Python, from highest to lowest:

Example

a = 10
b = 20
c = 30

result = a + b * c  # Multiplication is performed before addition
print(result)  # Output: 610

result = (a + b) * c  # Parentheses change the order of operations
print(result)  # Output: 900

Summary

The table below summarize all the Python operators we explored in this tutorial: