What is 'in' Operation in Python

Understanding the <> Operator in Python

The <> is one of the operators available in Python. The present version that we are using is Python 3. The previous version was Python 2. Some of the operators in Python 2 don't support in Python 3. <> is used in Python 2, which is not supported in Python.

The operator != is used in Python 3. The functionality of the <> or != is to represent not equal to. The output of these operators is in the format of Boolean values True or False.

Syntax

The following is the syntax for using the operators <> and != in the versions of Python 2 and Python 3.

Python version 2

In Python 2, the <> operator was used as an alternative to != to represent "not equal to." The following is the syntax for using the <> in the python version 2.

variable1 <> variable2

Where,

• variable1, variable2 are the names of the variables,

• is the operator used to represent not equal to.

Python version 3

In Python 3, the <> operator was removed, and only != is used to represent "not equal to."

variable1 != variable2

Where,

• variable1, variable2 are the names of the variables,

• != is the operator used to represent not equal to.

Using the <> Operator in Python 2

In python 2, if we want to check the equality between two elements then we have to use the <> in between them. The following is the example.

a = 10
b = 20
print(a <> b)

Output

The following is the output of the operator <> in the python version 2. We can observe the output in the form of boolean.

True

Using the != Operator in Python 3

In this example, when we use the operator != in Python 3, then the output will be in the form of a boolean, i.e., True or False.

a = int(input("Enter the input1:"))
b = int(input("Enter the input2:"))
c = (a != b)
print("The output of !=:",c)

Output

The following is the output of the operator != in the Python version 3.

Enter the input1:10
Enter the input2:30
The output of !=: True

Using the != Operator with Lists in Python 3

Let's see another example to understand the usage of the not equal to operator != in the Python version 3.

a = [1,23,4,5,6]
b = [1,23,4,5,6]
c = (a != b)
print("The output of !=:",c)

Output

The following is the output of the operator != in the Python version 3. In the output we can observe the output in the format of boolean values.

The output of !=: False

Using the Unsupported <> Operator in Python 3

When we apply the <> operator in Python version 3, then an error will be raised. This is because it is not supported by Python 3.

a = int(input("Enter the input1:"))
b = int(input("Enter the input2:"))
c = (a <> b)
print("The output of <>:",c)

Output

The following is the output of the operator <> in the Python version 3. In the output we can observe invalid syntax as output because the <> operator is not supported by Python version 3.

File "<ipython-input-4-5d33d4463372>", line 3
    c = (a <> b)
            ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Note ? If we use the operator <> of python version 2 in python version 3 it will give us the invalid syntax, as it won't be supported in the python 3 version.