Operators

Operators in Python are all about manipulating data. The most common operator types are:

  • Arithmetic operators
  • Assignment operators
  • Comparison operators
  • Logical operators

Arithmetic operators

Arithmetic operators are used to carry out common mathematical operations.

Arithmetic operatorMeaning
a + bAdds the value of b to a
a – bSubtracts the value of b from a
a * bMultiplies a by b
a / bDivides a by b
a ** bRaises a to the power of b
a % bDivides a by b and returns the remainder
a // bDivides a by b and rounds down
Arithmetic operators and their meaning

Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are a shortcut that combine an arithmetic operator and then assign the outcome of that equation to a variable. For example:

total_number_of_days += days_this_week

Is the same as typing:

total_number_of_days = total_number_of_days + days_this_week
Assignment operatorsMeaning
a += ba = a + b
a -= ba = a -b
a *= ba = a * b
a /= ba = a/ b
a **= ba = a ** b
a //= ba = a // b
Assignment operators and their meaning

Comparison Operators

Comparison Operators compare two variables or statements and return a Boolean True or False.

Comparison OperatorsMeaning
a == bTrue if a is equal to b
a != bTrue if a is not equal to b
a < bTrue if a is less than b
a > bTrue if a is greater than b
a <= bTrue if a is less than or equal to b
a >= bTrue if a is greater than or equal to b
Comparison operators and their meaning

Logical Operators

Logical Operators are used to combine statements and return a Boolean True or False based on the result.

Logical operatorMeaning
a or bTrue if either a or b is True
a and bTrue only if both a and b are True
not aTrue if a is False
Logical operators and their meaing


Precedence

Precedence determines the order in which operations are carried out. An operation with a higher precedence will be calculated before a lower one.

Highest PrecedenceOperatorSymbol
Parentheses()
Exponential**
Multiplication, division, modulo, and floor division*, /, %, //
Addition and subtraction+, –
Comparison operators<, >, <=, >=
Equality operators==, !=
Assignment operators=, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, //=, **=
Lowest precedenceLogical operatorsor, and, not
Order of operator precedence

If in any doubt, wrap the separate parts in brackets so that each operation is unaffected by the others.

total = ((a + b) – (x * y)) / z
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