Bitwise Operators
Operators that performs on bits (0 or 1) are known as bitwise operators. There are six bitwise operators
| & | AND |
| | | OR |
| ^ | XOR |
| ~ | NOT |
| >> | Right Shift |
| << | Left Shift |
Behavior of operators
Nature of operators
Bitwise AND (&)
0&0 is 0
0&1 is 0
1&0 is 0
1&1 is 1
Bitwise OR ( | )
0|0 is 0
0|1 is 1
1|0 is 1
1|1 is 1
Bitwise XOR (^)
0^0 is 0
0^1 is 1
1^0 is 1
1^1 is 0
Bitwise NOT (~)
~0 is 1
~1 is 0
Example
int main()
{
int x;
x=5&12;
printf(“%d”,x);
return(0);
}
Output is:
4
Explanation:
Bitwise AND applies on 5 and 12. We need to convert them in binary.
5 =00000000 00000000 00000000 00000101
12 =00000000 00000000 00000000 00001100
& ————————————
4=00000000 00000000 00000000 00000100
Shift Operators
Right shift >>
Left shift <<
int main()
{
int x;
x=12>>2;
printf(“%d”,x);
return(0);
}
Output:
3
Explanation:
Convert 12 into binary and shift bits to their right 2 times. This makes last two bits out and two new bits (always 0) append at the left.
12=00000000 00000000 00000000 00001100
Right shift two times
3 =00000000 00000000 00000000 00000011
main()
{
int x;
x=12<<2;
printf(“%d”,x);
return(0);
}
Output :
48
Explanation:
Convert 12 into binary and shift bits to their left 2 times. This makes last two left most bits out and two new bits (always 0) append at the right.
12=00000000 00000000 00000000 00001100
Left shift two times
48=00000000 00000000 00000000 00110000