Bitwise Operators
Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit-by-bit operation. The truth tables for &, |, and ^ is as follows −
| p | q | p & q | p | q | p ^ q |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Assume A = 60 and B = 13 in binary format, they will be as follows −
A = 0011 1100
B = 0000 1101
—————–
A&B = 0000 1100
A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
The following table lists the bitwise operators supported by C. Assume variable ‘A’ holds 60 and variable ‘B’ holds 13, then −
| Operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| & | Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands. | (A & B) = 12, i.e., 0000 1100 |
| | | Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand. | (A | B) = 61, i.e., 0011 1101 |
| ^ | Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both. | (A ^ B) = 49, i.e., 0011 0001 |
| ~ | Binary One’s Complement Operator is unary and has the effect of ‘flipping’ bits. | (~A ) = ~(60), i.e,. -0111101 |
| << | Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand. | A << 2 = 240 i.e., 1111 0000 |
| >> | Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand. | A >> 2 = 15 i.e., 0000 1111 |
