C++ Bitwise Operators



Bitwise operators are used to perform operations at the bit level on integer data types. These operations work on direct manipulation of bits, such as low-level programming, graphics, and cryptography.

List of C++ Bitwise operators

The Bitwise operators supported by C++ language are listed in the following table. Assume variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13, then

OperatorDescriptionExample
&Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands. (A & B) will give 12 which is 0000 1100
|Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand.(A | B) will give 61 which is 0011 1101
^Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both.(A ^ B) will give 49 which is 0011 0001
~Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and has the effect of 'flipping' bits. (~A ) will give -61 which is 1100 0011 in 2's complement form due to a signed binary number.
<<Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand.A << 2 will give 240 which is 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 will give 15 which is 0000 1111

Example of Bitwise Operators

Try the following example to understand all the bitwise operators available in C++.

Copy and paste the following C++ program in test.cpp file and compile and run this program.

 #include <iostream> using namespace std; main() { unsigned int a = 60; // 60 = 0011 1100 unsigned int b = 13; // 13 = 0000 1101 int c = 0; c = a & b; // 12 = 0000 1100 cout << "Line 1 - Value of c is : " << c << endl ; c = a | b; // 61 = 0011 1101 cout << "Line 2 - Value of c is: " << c << endl ; c = a ^ b; // 49 = 0011 0001 cout << "Line 3 - Value of c is: " << c << endl ; c = ~a; // -61 = 1100 0011 cout << "Line 4 - Value of c is: " << c << endl ; c = a << 2; // 240 = 1111 0000 cout << "Line 5 - Value of c is: " << c << endl ; c = a >> 2; // 15 = 0000 1111 cout << "Line 6 - Value of c is: " << c << endl ; return 0; } 

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

 Line 1 - Value of c is : 12 Line 2 - Value of c is: 61 Line 3 - Value of c is: 49 Line 4 - Value of c is: -61 Line 5 - Value of c is: 240 Line 6 - Value of c is: 15 
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