Why does Python `**` use for exponentiation instead of the `^` operator? [duplicate]

Question

Why is ^ not squaring in Python? I know exponentiation is ** instead, but what exactly is ^ and why wasn't that operator used instead?

For example 2^2=0, 3^2=1.

Answer 1

The ^ operator was already used for bitwise xor.

>>> x = 42; format(x, '08b')
'00101010'
>>> y = 137; format(y, '08b')
'10001001'
>>> z = x ^ y; format(z, '08b')
'10100011'

That leaves the old Fortran-style ** operator for exponentiation.

>>> base = 5
>>> exp = 2
>>> base ** exp
25