I am quite experienced with Python, but recently, when I was looking at the solutions for the codility sample tests I encountered the operators -=, +=, ^= and I am unable to figure out what they do. Perhaps could anyone explain the context in which they are used?
As almost any modern language, Python has assignment operators so they can use them every time you want to assign a value to a variable after doing some arithmetic or logical operation, both (assignment and operation) are expressed in a compact way in one statement...
Table from Tutorials Point:
Operator Description Example = Assigns values from right side operands to left side operand c = a + b assigns value of a + b into c += Add AND It adds right operand to the left operand and assign the result to left operand c += a is equivalent to c = c + a -= Subtract AND It subtracts right operand from the left operand and assign the result to left operand c -= a is equivalent to c = c - a *= Multiply AND It multiplies right operand with the left operand and assign the result to left operand c *= a is equivalent to c = c * a /= Divide AND It divides left operand with the right operand and assign the result to left operand c /= a is equivalent to c = c / a %= Modulus AND It takes modulus using two operands and assign the result to left operand c %= a is equivalent to c = c % a **= Exponent AND Performs exponential (power) calculation on operators and assign value to the left operand c **= a is equivalent to c = c ** a //= Floor Division It performs floor division on operators and assign value to the left operand c //= a is equivalent to c = c // a