Operators

Operators are special symbols and keywords used to perform operations on values and variables. Python provides operators for arithmetic, comparison, logical operations, assignment, membership, identity, and bitwise operations.

CIIT Training Institute : Operators are used in almost every Python program, from simple calculations to conditions, loops, data processing, and application logic.

What is an Operator?

An operator performs an operation on one or more values. The values on which an operator works are called operands.

a = 10
b = 5

result = a + b

print(result)

Here, + is the operator and a and b are the operands.

Operator Concept

Operand
10

↓

Operator
+

↓

Operand
5

↓

Result
15

Types of Python Operators

Operator Type	Common Operators	Purpose
Arithmetic	+, -, , /, //, %, *	Mathematical calculations
Comparison	==, !=, >, <, >=, <=	Compare values
Logical	and, or, not	Combine conditions
Assignment	=, +=, -=, *=, /=	Assign and update values
Membership	in, not in	Check whether a value exists
Identity	is, is not	Check object identity
Bitwise	&, \|, ^, ~, <<, >>	Perform bit-level operations

1. Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical calculations.

Operator	Name	Example	Result
+	Addition	10 + 5	15
-	Subtraction	10 - 5	5
*	Multiplication	10 * 5	50
/	Division	10 / 5	2.0
//	Floor Division	11 // 5	2
%	Modulus	11 % 5	1
**	Exponent	2 ** 3	8

a = 10
b = 3

print(a + b)
print(a - b)
print(a * b)
print(a / b)
print(a // b)
print(a % b)
print(a ** b)

Output:

Output

13
7
30
3.3333333333333335
3
1
1000

2. Comparison Operators

Comparison operators compare two values and return either True or False.

Operator	Meaning	Example
==	Equal to	10 == 10
!=	Not equal to	10 != 5
>	Greater than	10 > 5
<	Less than	5 < 10
>=	Greater than or equal to	10 >= 10
<=	Less than or equal to	5 <= 10

age = 25

print(age == 25)
print(age > 18)
print(age < 18)
print(age != 30)

Output

True
True
False
True

3. Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to combine multiple conditions.

Operator	Description
and	Returns True when both conditions are True
or	Returns True when at least one condition is True
not	Reverses the boolean result

age = 25
has_id = True

print(age >= 18 and has_id)
print(age < 18 or has_id)
print(not has_id)

Output:

Output

True
True
False

4. Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables and update existing values.

Operator	Example	Equivalent To
=	x = 10	x = 10
+=	x += 5	x = x + 5
-=	x -= 5	x = x - 5
*=	x *= 5	x = x * 5
/=	x /= 5	x = x / 5
//=	x //= 5	x = x // 5
%=	x %= 5	x = x % 5
**=	x **= 2	x = x ** 2

score = 100

score += 20

print(score)

score -= 10

print(score)

Output:

Output

120
110

5. Membership Operators

Membership operators check whether a value exists inside a sequence such as a string, list, tuple, or set.

courses = ["Python", "Java", "C#"]

print("Python" in courses)
print("PHP" in courses)
print("PHP" not in courses)

Output

True
False
True

6. Identity Operators

Identity operators are used to check whether two variables refer to the same object.

Python provides two identity operators: is and is not.

a = None
b = None

print(a is b)
print(a is not b)

Output:

Output

True
False

Identity operators are different from ==. The == operator compares values, while is checks object identity.

7. Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators work with the binary representation of integer values.

Operator	Name
&	Bitwise AND
\|	Bitwise OR
^	Bitwise XOR
~	Bitwise NOT
<<	Left Shift
>>	Right Shift

a = 5
b = 3

print(a & b)
print(a | b)
print(a ^ b)

Output:

Output

1
7
6

Operator Precedence

When an expression contains multiple operators, Python follows a specific order to evaluate them.

result = 10 + 5 * 2

print(result)

Output

Multiplication is performed before addition, so 5 * 2 is evaluated first.

Using Parentheses

Parentheses can be used when you want to explicitly control the order of evaluation.

result = (10 + 5) * 2

print(result)

Output

Example 🖥️🌍

Let's calculate whether a student has passed based on marks.

marks = 75
attendance = 85

passed = marks >= 40 and attendance >= 75

print("Student Passed:", passed)

Output

Student Passed: True

CIIT Learning Point

Operators are the building blocks of program logic. Practice arithmetic, comparison, logical, and assignment operators first. These operators will become especially important when you learn conditional statements and loops.

CIIT Practice Task

Create a Python program that accepts two numbers and displays their:

Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
Remainder
Comparison result

number1 = int(input("Enter first number: "))
number2 = int(input("Enter second number: "))

print("Addition:", number1 + number2)
print("Subtraction:", number1 - number2)
print("Multiplication:", number1 * number2)
print("Division:", number1 / number2)
print("Remainder:", number1 % number2)
print("First number is greater:", number1 > number2)

Output:

Output

Enter first number: 20
Enter second number: 10
Addition: 30
Subtraction: 10
Multiplication: 200
Division: 2.0
Remainder: 0
First number is greater: True

Summary :

Python operators are used to perform calculations, compare values, combine conditions, assign values, check membership and identity, and perform bit-level operations. Arithmetic, comparison, logical, and assignment operators are especially important for building real-world Python program logic.

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