Lesson 11. Swapping Variable Values in Python

In Python, you can swap the values of two variables in a single line without using a temporary variable.

Example: Swapping Two Variables

a = 5
b = 10

# Swap values
a, b = b, a

print(a)  # Output: 10
print(b)  # Output: 5

💡 How It Works:

1. On the right side → (b, a) creates a tuple (10, 5).
2. On the left side → Python unpacks that tuple into a and b.

After the operation:

• a becomes 10
• b becomes 5

🌍 Real-Life Analogy

Imagine you and a friend are holding two cups — one with coffee and one with tea. Instead of pouring both into a third cup (the “temporary variable”), you simply hand each other your cups. That’s what Python does when swapping — it just exchanges the values directly.

🧩 Try It Yourself Try swapping other variable types — for example, strings or floats: ```python x = “Apple” y = “Banana”

x, y = y, x

print(x) # Output: Banana print(y) # Output: Apple

Swap more than two variables:

```python
a, b, c = 1, 2, 3
a, b, c = c, a, b
print(a, b, c)  # Output: 3 1 2

Now that you understand Python variables, your next step is to learn about Assigning Values from Collections (Unpacking) in detail.