C - Bitwise Operators
C Programming
In this tutorial we will learn about bitwise operators in C programming language.
Following are the bitwise operators that we can use in C to work with bits.
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
| & | Bitwise AND |
| | | Bitwise OR |
| ^ | Bitwise exclusive OR i.e. XOR |
| << | Shift left |
| >> | Shift right |
Don't apply bitwise operator to float and double.
Bitwise AND
Bitwise AND & will give 1 only if both the operands are 1 otherwise, 0.
The truth table for bitwise AND.
| A | B | A & B |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
In the following example we have two integer values 1 and 2 and we will perform bitwise AND operation and display the result.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
//declare integer and assign value
int
x = 1,
y = 2;
//bitwise AND
int result = x & y;
printf("%d & %d = %d\n", x, y, result);
return 0;
}
Output
1 & 2 = 0
Calculation of the bitwise AND operation for the above code.
1 (decimal) = 0000 0001 (binary)
& 2 (decimal) = 0000 0010 (binary)
-----------------------------------
0 (decimal) = 0000 0000 (binary)
Click here to learn how to convert decimal to binary.
Bitwise OR
Bitwise OR | will give 0 only if both the operands are 0 otherwise, 1.
The truth table for bitwise OR.
| A | B | A | B |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
In the following example we have two integer values 1 and 2 and we will perform bitwise OR operation and display the result.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
//declare integer and assign value
int
x = 1,
y = 2;
//bitwise OR
int result = x | y;
printf("%d | %d = %d\n", x, y, result);
return 0;
}
Output
1 | 2 = 3
Calculation of the bitwise OR operation for the above code.
1 (decimal) = 0000 0001 (binary)
| 2 (decimal) = 0000 0010 (binary)
-----------------------------------
3 (decimal) = 0000 0011 (binary)
Bitwise XOR
Bitwise XOR ^ will give 1 for odd number of 1s otherwise, 0.
The truth table for bitwise XOR.
| A | B | A ^ B |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 |
In the following example we have two integer values 2 and 7 and we will perform bitwise XOR operation and display the result.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
//declare integer and assign value
int
x = 2,
y = 7;
//bitwise XOR
int result = x ^ y;
printf("%d ^ %d = %d\n", x, y, result);
return 0;
}
Output
2 ^ 7 = 5
Calculation of the bitwise XOR operation for the above code.
2 (decimal) = 0000 0010 (binary)
^ 7 (decimal) = 0000 0111 (binary)
-----------------------------------
5 (decimal) = 0000 0101 (binary)
Shift Left
We use shift left << operator to shift the bits left.
In the following example we have an integer which we will left shift 1 position.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
//declare integer and assign value
int x = 4;
//shift left
int result = x << 1;
printf("Shift left x << 1 = %d\n", result);
return 0;
}
Output
Shift left x << 1 = 8
Calculation:
4 (decimal) = 0000 0100 (binary)
----------------------------------
4 << 1 = 0000 1000 (binary)
= 8 (decimal)
Shift Right
We use shift right >> operator to shift the bits right.
In the following example we have an integer which we will right shift 1 position.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
//declare integer and assign value
int x = 4;
//shift right
int result = x >> 1;
printf("Shift left x >> 1 = %d\n", result);
return 0;
}
Output
Shift right x >> 1 = 2
Calculation:
4 (decimal) = 0000 0100 (binary)
----------------------------------
4 >> 1 = 0000 0010 (binary)
= 2 (decimal)
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