Python: Assignment Operators

In a programming language, assignment operators are typically used to assign values to variables.

In Python, the basic assignment operator works like this:

Operator	Description	Example
=	Assign a value to a variable	x = 2

Python also has seven arithmetic assignment operators, which are a sort of shorthand for performing two operations in sequence -- 1) arithmetic between a variable operand on the left of the expression and some other value on the right, and then 2) the assigning of the result back to the original variable:

Operator	Description	Example	Equivalent To
+=	Add a value to a variable	x += 2	x = x + 2
-=	Subtract a value from a variable	x -= 2	x = x - 2
*=	Multiply a variable by a value	x *= 2	x = x * 2
**=	Raise a variable to the power of a value (exponentiation)	x **= 2	x = x ** 2
/=	Divide a variable by a value	x /= 2	x = x / 2
//=	Divide a variable by a value, and round down (floor division)	x //= 2	x = x // 2
%=	The remainder of dividing a variable by a value (modulo)	x %= 2	x = x % 2

Similarly, Python also has five bitwise assignment operators. These perform bitwise operations (the subject of a future article... ) between the left operand variable and a value on the right, assigning the result back to the variable:

Operator	Description	Example	Equivalent To
&=	Bitwise AND	x &= 2	x = x & 2
|=	Bitwise OR	x |= 2	x = x | 2
^=	Bitwise XOR	x ^= 2	x = x ^ 2
>>=	Bitwise right shift	x >>= 2	x = x >> 2
<<=	Bitwise left shift	x <<= 2	x = x << 2

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