Binary, Bytes, and Bitwise Operators in Python

Christopher Trudeau

Computers store all kinds of information as a stream of binary digits called bits. Whether you’re working with text, images, or videos, they all boil down to ones and zeros. Python’s bitwise operators let you manipulate those individual bits of data at the most granular level.

Python isolates you from the underlying bits with high-level abstractions. You’re more likely to find the overloaded flavors of bitwise operators in practice. But when you work with them in their original form, you’ll be surprised by their quirks!

In this course, you’ll learn how to:

  • Read binary numbers
  • Perform bitwise math and read truth tables
  • Represent fixed and arbitrary precision integers in Python
  • Perform bitwise operations in Python
  • Use bitmasks to pack information on a single byte
  • Differentiate Big-Endian and Little-Endian byte orders
  • Overload Python bitwise operators in custom data types

What’s Included:

Downloadable Resources:

About Christopher Trudeau

Christopher has a passion for the Python language and writes for Real Python. He is a consultant who helps advise organizations on how to improve their technical teams.

» More about Christopher

Each tutorial at Real Python is created by a team of developers so that it meets our high quality standards. The team members who worked on this tutorial are:

← Browse All Courses