What does the ^ operand do?

Question

I discovered the ^ by accident while doing print(5^2).. it gives bizarre answers and I couldn't make out what it was for, any help?

Answer 1

What Toby didn't explain is that this is a bitwise operator, that compares bits, instead of conditions.
The first test you mentioned, 2 ^ 3, is like this:

2 = 010 (only showing 3 bits, for simplicity)
3 = 011

If you look at them that way, you can see that the only bit that applies to the condition is the last one, therefore, 010 ^ 011 = 001.
Same thing for the other example:

2 = 010
4 = 100

The result of 010 ^ 100 is 110, which is 6.

Answer 2

XOR

XOR you need to satisfy EXACTLY one of the criteria and can't have both
Joe is male and 25, Bob is male and 30, Anne is female and 25.
If we search for people who are "male AND 25" we will only get Joe.

If we search for "male OR 25" then we will get all three people.

If we search "male XOR 25" we will get Bob and Anne, but we won't get Joe because he satisfies both of the criteria.

Answer 3

oh okay makes perfect sense thanks a ton

Answer 4

Eum however I just went back to try print(2^3) and got 1 as an answer, whereas print(2^4) gives 6 as an answer... am I still missing something?

Answer 5

Oh wow I never would've had understood that without your comment + add to that i've been answered by ken kaneki, making this even more epic! XD .. thanks for the help :)

Answer 6

that is for power ..bitwise operator

Answer 7

^ is both the XOR operator and the symmetric difference operator in sets