18.1: Modulus Operator
- Page ID
- 15376
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The modulus operator works on integers and yields the remainder when the first operand is divided by the second. In Python, the modulus operator is a percent sign (%). The syntax is the same as for other operators:
>>> quotient = 7 / 3 >>> print quotient 2 >>> remainder = 7 % 3 >>> print remainder 1
So 7 divided by 3 is 2 with 1 left over.
The modulus operator turns out to be surprisingly useful. For example, you can check whether one number is divisible by another — if x % y is zero, then x is divisible by y.
Also, you can extract the right-most digit or digits from a number. For example, x % 10 yields the right-most digit of x (in base 10). Similarly x % 100 yields the last two digits.