In Python, ^ is called EXOR operator. It is a bitwise operator which takes bits as operands. It returns 1 if one operand is 1 and other is 0.
Assuming a=60 (00111100 in binary) and b=13 (00001101 in binary) bitwise XOR of a and b returns 49 (00110001 in binary)
>>> a=60 >>> bin(a) '0b111100' >>> b=a^2 >>> bin(b) '0b111110' >>> a=60 >>> bin(a) '0b111100' >>> b=13 >>> bin(b) '0b1101' >>> c=a^b >>> bin(c) '0b110001'