Welcome to another tutorial in this series, here you will get to know more about operators in Python. All programming language has operators used in performing various types of operation. They are handled for the evaluation of different types of expressions and to manipulate the values of operands or variables by performing different operations.
There are 7 types of operators in Python.
In the list above, the first five are commonly used and the last two are regarded as Membership or Identity operators, they are exclusive to python.
The Arithmetic operators are operators typically used for performing arithmetic operations on numeric operands such as division, addition, subtraction, and so on.
The table below shows the different arithmetic operators: To multiply values on either side of the operator.
| Operator | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| + | a + b | Adds values on either side of the operator. |
| - | a - b | Subtracts the right hand operand from the left hand operand. |
| * | a*b | |
| / | a/b | Divides left hand operand by right hand operand(returns float value). |
| % | a % b | Returns the remainder from dividing left hand operand by right hand operand. |
| ** | a**b | Returns Exponent – left operand raised to the power of right |
| // | a//b | Floor Division – It is the division of operands where the result is the quotient in which the digits after the decimal point are removed. However, when one of the operands is negative, the result is floored, that is, rounded away from zero and towards negative infinity. |
Let's have a few code examples:
>>>3+2
5
>>>4-3
1
>>>3/2
1.5
The comparison operators in Python are used to compare the values of operands on either side of this type of operator. They return true or false Boolean values; true is returned if the condition is satisfied, else it will return a false.
The table below shows the different comparison operators:
| Operator | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| == | a == b | Returns True if the values on the either side of the operator is equal otherwise False. |
| != | a != b | Returns True if the values on either sides of the operator is not equal to each other otherwise False. |
| > | a > b | Returns True if the value of the operand on the left of the operator is greater than the value on the right side of the operator. |
| < | a < b | Returns True if the value of the operand on the left of the operator is less than the value on the right side of the operator. |
| >= | a >= b | Returns True if the value of the operand on the left of the operator is greater than or equal to the value on the right side of the operator. |
| <= | a <= b | Returns True if the value of the operand on the left of the operator is less than or equal to the value on the right side of the operator. |
Let's have a few code examples:
>>> 3 == 2
False
>>> 3 != 2
True
>>> 2<=4
TrueThis type of operator enables you to assign a specific value to a variable or an operand.
The equal to (=) operator can be used to assign a value to an operand directly when you use an arithmetic operator (+, -, /, etc.) along with the equal to operator, it will perform the arithmetic operation on the given variable and subsequently assign the resulting value to that variable itself.
Check out the example below:
>>> x=2
>>> x
2
>>> x+=1
>>> x
3
>>> x-=1
>>> x
2
This type of operator is used to perform logical operations such as and, or, not, etc., and to combine two or more conditions in other to provide a specific result of either true or false.
The table below shows the different logical operators:
| Operator | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| and | x and y | True if both sides of the operator is True |
| or | x or y | True if either of the operand is True |
| not | not x | Complements the operand |
In Python, the Bitwise operator acts on the operands bit by bit. They take one or two operands. However, a few bitwise operators appear to be similar to logical operators, but they are not.
The table below are different bitwise operators: It copies a bit if it exists in either operand.
| Operator | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| & Binary AND | (a & b) | Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands. |
| | Binary OR | (a | b) | |
| ^ Binary XOR | (a ^ b) | It copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both. |
| ~ 1's complement | (~a) | It is unary and has the effect of 'flipping' bits. |
| << Binary Left Shift | a << 2 | The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand. |
| >> Binary Right Shift | a >> 2 | The left operands value is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand. |
Let's have a few code examples:
>>> a = 3
>>> b = 4
>>> a = 3 # equivalent binary is 0011
>>> b = 4 # equivalent binary is 0100
>>> a & b
0
>>> a | b
7
>>> # 7 is equivalent to 0111 in binaryIn Python, the membership operators are used to test whether a value is in a specific sequence or not like in lists, tuples, strings, and so on, however, returns True or False as output.
The table shows the different membership operators:
| Operator | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| in | x in y | True if the value/operand in the left of the operator is present in the sequence in the right of the operator. |
| not in | x not in y | True if the value/operand in the left of the operator is not present in the sequence in the right of the operator. |
Let's have a few code examples:
>>> lst=[2,3,6,7,9,1]
>>> x=2
>>> y=5
>>> x in lst
True
>>> y in lst
False
In Python, the identity operators are typically applied to test if a variable refers to the same value/object or not. It, therefore, returns True or False as output.
The table below shows the different identity operators:
| Operator | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| is | x is True | True if both the operands refer to the same object. |
| is not | x is not True | Evaluates to false if the variables on either side of the operator point to the same object and true otherwise. |
Let's have a few code examples:
>>> x=4
>>> y=4
>>> z=2
>>> x is y
True
>>> z is x
False