Difference Between ‘and’ and ‘&’ in Python

‘and’ Vs. ‘&’ in Python: Understand the Difference Between ‘and’ and ‘&’ in Python

Both of these are the expressions that we use in the Python language, but there is a fundamental difference between ‘and’ and ‘&’ in Python. The ‘and’ expression tests if both the expressions used are True (logically). The ‘&’ expression, on the other hand (when used with False/ True values), tests if both of these are True.

In the Python language, the empty built-in objects get treated typically as logically False. But here, the non-empty built-ins are always logically True. As a result, it facilitates a case of common use when a user wants to do something when a list is not empty and wants to do something else when the list is empty. Let us now know more about both the statements that we discussed above.

What is ‘and’ in Python?

The and is a type of Logical AND that returns in a True form whenever both the operands are also true.

What is ‘&’ in Python?

The &, on the other hand, is a bitwise operator used in the Python language. It basically acts on various bits and performs operations bit by bit.

Note – Whenever the value of an integer is 0, we consider it to be False. But when we use it logically, we consider it to be True. It is because the ‘and’ statement tests if both these expressions are True (logically)- while the ‘&’ statement performs various bitwise AND operations on the results obtained from both the statements.