Python Morsels: What does // mean in Python?

Table of contents

1. The / operator
2. The // operator between integers
3. When should you use // in Python?
4. Note that // always rounds down
5. Using divmod instead
6. Use // for integer division

The / operator

The / operator is the division operator in Python.

When / is used between two numbers, you'll always get the exact (as exact as Python can manage) result back:

>>> 5/22.5

>>> 5/22.5

Unlike some programming languages, / in Python does not act any differently when used between integers; in Python 3 that is. In Python 2, division between two integers would would the result downward to the nearest integer:

>>> 5/2# Python 22

>>> 5/2# Python 22

But in Python 3, division between two integers always returns a floating point number with the exact result:

>>> 4/22.0

>>> 4/22.0

The // operator between integers

The // operator is the …