An expression is any piece of code that produces a value. Operators are the symbols that combine values into expressions: +, -, ==, and, and many more.

This section walks through every kind of operator Python offers.

What’s in this section

1. Arithmetic operators — add, subtract, multiply, divide, modulo, exponent
2. Comparison operators — equal, less than, greater than
3. Logical operators — and, or, not, and short-circuit behaviour
4. Assignment operators — =, +=, -=, and friends
5. Membership and identity — in, not in, is, is not
6. The ternary operator — a one-line if/else

Most of these will feel familiar from maths class. The ones that won’t — is vs ==, short-circuiting, the ternary — are the ones to slow down on.