Master Python Assignment Operators: From Simple = to Compound Forms

Python uses the = sign to assign the result of the right‑hand expression to the variable on the left, which differs from the mathematical equality sign.

Simple assignment example:

num = 13
print(num)  # 13

Compound assignment operators combine an arithmetic operation with assignment. The following operators are supported: += – addition assignment (e.g., c += a is equivalent to c = c + a) -= – subtraction assignment ( c -= a → c = c - a) *= – multiplication assignment ( c *= a → c = c * a) /= – division assignment ( c /= a → c = c / a) %= – modulo assignment ( c %= a → c = c % a) **= – exponentiation assignment ( c **= a → c = c ** a) //= – floor‑division assignment ( c //= a → c = c // a)

Illustrative code snippets demonstrate each operator and the resulting values:

num = 13
num += 21   # equivalent to num = num + 21
print(num)  # 34

num1 = 23
num1 -= 22  # equivalent to num1 = num1 - 22
print(num1) # 1

num2 = 6
num2 *= 3   # equivalent to num2 = num2 * 3
print(num2) # 18

num3 = 12
num3 /= 4   # equivalent to num3 = num3 / 4
print(num3) # 3.0

num4 = 21
num4 **= 2  # equivalent to num4 = num4 ** 2
print(num4) # 441

num5 = 3
num5 **= 2  # equivalent to num5 = num5 ** 2
print(num5) # 9

num6 = 54
num6 //= 7  # equivalent to num6 = num6 // 7
print(num6) # 7

The output sequence is 34 1 18 3.0 441 9 7. Finally, the article notes that Python does not provide the increment/decrement operators ++ or --; instead, one must use a += 1 or a -= 1 to achieve the same effect.