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20. Operators

1. Introduction​

Operators are symbols that perform operations on variables and values.
Python supports several categories of operators:

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

2. Arithmetic Operators​

Used for basic math operations.

x = 10
y = 3

print(x + y)  # 13 (Addition)
print(x - y)  # 7  (Subtraction)
print(x * y)  # 30 (Multiplication)
print(x / y)  # 3.333... (Division)
print(x // y) # 3 (Floor Division)
print(x % y)  # 1 (Modulus / Remainder)
print(x ** y) # 1000 (Exponentiation)

3. Comparison Operators​

Used to compare values (result is True or False).

x = 5
y = 10

print(x == y)  # False (Equal to)
print(x != y)  # True  (Not equal to)
print(x > y)   # False (Greater than)
print(x < y)   # True  (Less than)
print(x >= 5)  # True  (Greater or equal)
print(y <= 10) # True  (Less or equal)

4. Logical Operators​

Used to combine conditional statements.

a = True
b = False

print(a and b) # False (Both must be True)
print(a or b)  # True  (At least one True)
print(not a)   # False (Negation)

5. Assignment Operators​

Used to assign values to variables.

x = 10
x += 5   # same as x = x + 5
print(x) # 15

x -= 3   # x = x - 3 → 12
x *= 2   # x = x * 2 → 24
x /= 4   # x = x / 4 → 6.0
x %= 4   # x = x % 4 → 2.0
x **= 3  # x = x ** 3 → 8.0

6. Bitwise Operators​

Work on binary (bit-level) data.

x = 6   # 110 in binary
y = 3   # 011 in binary

print(x & y)  # 2 (AND → 010)
print(x | y)  # 7 (OR  → 111)
print(x ^ y)  # 5 (XOR → 101)
print(~x)     # -7 (NOT → flips bits)
print(x << 1) # 12 (Left shift → 1100)
print(x >> 1) # 3  (Right shift → 011)

7. Membership Operators​

Used to test if a value exists in a sequence.

fruits = ["apple", "banana"]

print("apple" in fruits)   # True
print("orange" not in fruits) # True

8. Identity Operators​

Used to compare object references (memory addresses).

a = [1, 2, 3]
b = [1, 2, 3]
c = a

print(a is b)     # False (different objects, same content)
print(a == b)     # True  (same values)
print(a is c)     # True  (same object reference)

9. Operator Precedence​

Some operators are evaluated before others (like in math).

Order of precedence (highest to lowest):

  1. () → Parentheses
  2. ** → Exponent
  3. *, /, //, % → Multiplication/division
  4. +, - → Addition/subtraction
  5. Comparison (==, <, >, etc.)
  6. Logical (not, and, or)

Example:

result = 2 + 3 * 4
print(result)  # 14, because multiplication happens before addition

10. Next Steps​

✅ You now know how to use Python’s operators: arithmetic, comparison, logical, assignment, bitwise, membership, and identity.
In the next chapter, we’ll explore working with strings in detail.