The Python Papers

The Python Papers

Python 101 – Assignment Expressions

AKA: The Walrus Operator

Mike Driscoll's avatar
Mike Driscoll
Feb 19, 2025
∙ Paid

Assignment expressions were added to Python in version 3.8. The general idea is that an assignment expression allows you to assign to variables within an expression.

The syntax for doing this is:

NAME := expr

This operator has been called the “walrus operator”, although their real name is “assignment expression”. Interestingly, the CPython internals also r…

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