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Operators, List and Tuple Methods in Python

Created by Vanshika Sharma in Articles 6 Mar 2025

«Basics of Ansible: Playbooks and ...

Python is a versatile and beginner-friendly programming language that offers a wide range of tools for data manipulation. Among these tools, operators, lists, and tuples are fundamental concepts that every Python programmer must understand.

Operators allow you to perform operations on variables and values, while lists and tuples are data structures used to store collections of items.

In this article, we will explore the different types of operators in Python, how to work with lists and tuples, and the methods associated with them.

By the end of this article, you will have a solid understanding of these concepts and how to use them effectively in your Python programs.

Operators in Python

Operators are symbols or keywords that perform operations on variables and values. Python supports a wide range of operators, including arithmetic, comparison, logical, assignment, bitwise, membership, and identity operators.

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform basic mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Operator	Description	Example
+	Addition	a + b
-	Subtraction	a - b
*	Multiplication	a * b
/	Division	a / b
%	Modulus (remainder)	a % b
**	Exponentiation	a ** b
//	Floor Division	a // b

Example:

a = 10

b = 3

print(a + b) # Output: 13

print(a - b) # Output: 7

print(a * b) # Output: 30

print(a / b) # Output: 3.333...

print(a % b) # Output: 1

print(a ** b) # Output: 1000

print(a // b) # Output: 3

Comparison Operators

Comparison operators are used to compare two values. They return True or False based on the comparison.

Operator	Description	Example
==	Equal to	a == b
!=	Not equal to	a != b
>	Greater than	a > b
<	Less than	a < b
>=	Greater than or equal to	a >= b
<=	Less than or equal to	a <= b

Example:

a = 10

b = 20

print(a == b) # Output: False

print(a != b) # Output: True

print(a > b) # Output: False

print(a < b) # Output: True

print(a >= b) # Output: False

print(a <= b) # Output: True

Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to combine conditional statements. They include and, or, and not.

Operator	Description	Example
and	Returns True if both statements are true.	a and b
or	Returns True if at least one statement is true.	a or b
not	Reverses the result.	not a

Example:

a = True

b = False

print(a and b) # Output: False

print(a or b) # Output: True

print(not a) # Output: False

Assignment Operators

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables. They can also perform operations while assigning.

Operator	Description	Example
=	Assign	a = b
+=	Add and assign	a += b
-=	Subtract and assign	a -= b
*=	Multiply and assign	a *= b
/=	Divide and assign	a /= b
%=	Modulus and assign	a %= b
**=	Exponent and assign	a **= b
//=	Floor divide and assign	a //= b

Example:

a = 10

b = 2

a += b # Equivalent to a = a + b

print(a) # Output: 12

Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators are used to perform operations on binary numbers.

Operator	Description	Example
&	AND	a & b
\|	OR	a \| b
^	XOR	a ^ b
~	NOT	~a
<<	Left shift	a << b
>>	Right shift	a >> b

Example:

a = 10 # Binary: 1010

b = 4 # Binary: 0100

print(a & b) # Output: 0

print(a | b) # Output: 14

print(a ^ b) # Output: 14

print(~a) # Output: -11

print(a << 1) # Output: 20

print(a >> 1) # Output: 5

Membership Operators

Membership operators are used to test if a value exists in a sequence (e.g., list, tuple, string).

Operator	Description	Example
in	Returns True if value exists.	a in b
not in	Returns True if value does not exist.	a not in b

Example:

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print(3 in my_list) # Output: True

print(6 not in my_list) # Output: True

Identity Operators

Identity operators are used to compare the memory locations of two objects.

Operator	Description	Example
is	Returns True if both objects are the same.	a is b
is not	Returns True if both objects are not the same.	a is not b

Example:

a = [1, 2, 3]

b = [1, 2, 3]

c = a

print(a is b) # Output: False

print(a is c) # Output: True

print(a is not b) # Output: True

Lists in Python

Lists are one of the most commonly used data structures in Python. They are ordered, mutable (changeable), and can store elements of different data types.

Creating Lists

You can create a list by enclosing elements in square brackets [].

my_list = [1, 2, 3, "Python", 3.14]

Accessing List Elements

You can access elements in a list using their index. Python uses zero-based indexing.

print(my_list[0]) # Output: 1

print(my_list[3]) # Output: Python

List Slicing

You can extract a portion of a list using slicing.

print(my_list[1:4]) # Output: [2, 3, "Python"]

List Methods

Lists come with a variety of built-in methods for manipulation.

Method	Description	Example
append()	Adds an element at the end.	my_list.append(4)
extend()	Adds elements from another list.	my_list.extend([5, 6])
insert()	Inserts an element at a specific index.	my_list.insert(1, 1.5)
remove()	Removes the first occurrence of an element.	my_list.remove(3)
pop()	Removes and returns the element at the given index.	my_list.pop(1)
clear()	Removes all elements from the list.	my_list.clear()
index()	Returns the index of the first occurrence of an element.	my_list.index("Python")
count()	Returns the number of occurrences of an element.	my_list.count(3)
sort()	Sorts the list in ascending order.	my_list.sort()
reverse()	Reverses the order of the list.	my_list.reverse()
copy()	Returns a shallow copy of the list.	new_list = my_list.copy()

List Comprehensions

List comprehensions provide a concise way to create lists.

squares = [x**2 for x in range(10)]

print(squares) # Output: [0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81]

Tuples in Python

Tuples are similar to lists but are immutable, meaning they cannot be modified after creation.

Creating Tuples

You can create a tuple by enclosing elements in parentheses ().

my_tuple = (1, 2, 3, "Python", 3.14)

Accessing Tuple Elements

You can access tuple elements using indexing, just like lists.

print(my_tuple[0]) # Output: 1

print(my_tuple[3]) # Output: Python

Tuple Methods

Tuples have fewer methods than lists due to their immutability.

Method	Description	Example
count()	Returns the number of occurrences of an element.	my_tuple.count(3)
index()	Returns the index of the first occurrence of an element.	my_tuple.index("Python")

When to Use Tuples

Tuples are ideal for storing data that should not change, such as coordinates or constant values.

Key Differences Between Lists and Tuples

Feature	List	Tuple
Mutability	Mutable	Immutable
Syntax	Uses []	Uses ()
Performance	Slightly slower	Faster
Use Case	Dynamic data	Fixed data

Practical Examples

Example 1: Using Lists for Data Manipulation

# Create a list of numbers

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

# Add a new number

numbers.append(6)

# Remove the number 3

numbers.remove(3)

# Sort the list

numbers.sort()

print(numbers) # Output: [1, 2, 4, 5, 6]

Example 2: Using Tuples for Immutable Data

# Create a tuple of coordinates

coordinates = (10.0, 20.0)

# Access elements

print(coordinates[0]) # Output: 10.0

# Attempt to modify (will raise an error)

# coordinates[0] = 15.0 # TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment

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