It is common within applications to need to have code like this :

a = a + 1

or

a = a * 2

There is an effective shortcut for these in place operations :

a += 1
# and
a *= 2

Any mathematic operator can be used before the ‘=’ character to make an inplace operation :

• -= decrement the variable in place
• += increment the variable in place
• *= multiply the variable in place
• /= divide the variable in place
• //= floor divide the variable in place # Python 3
• %= return the modulus of the variable in place
• **= raise to a power in place

Other in place operators exist for the bitwise operators (^, | etc)