all Python 3Arithmetic & operatorsterm
- subtraction
arithmetic
The binary subtraction operator. The unary minus changes the sign of a number.
Syntax
a - b | -a
Unary minus binds more loosely than exponentiation: -2 ** 2 parses as -(2 ** 2) and gives -4, not 4, so wrap the base in parentheses if you meant the square of a negative number. With floats a difference is almost never exact — 0.3 - 0.1 is not exactly 0.2 — so never compare the result of a subtraction with ==; use math.isclose() instead.
Examples
print(10 - 3) # → 7
print(3.5 - 1.1) # → 2.4 (float)
x = 5; print(-x) # → -5 (унарный минус)
print(0 - 100) # → -100
from datetime import date
delta = date(2025, 12, 31) - date(2025, 1, 1)
print(delta.days) # → 364 (разница дат)
See also
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