C Programming Bitwise Operators

C programming bitwise operators; Through this tutorial, you will learn bitwise operators in C programming with examples.

A bitwise operator is an operator used to perform bitwise operations on bit patterns or binary numerals that involve the manipulation of individual bits.

C Programming Bitwise Operators

List of C Programming Bitwise Operators

Operators	Meaning of operators
&	Bitwise AND
|	Bitwise OR
^	Bitwise XOR
~	Bitwise complement
<<	Shift left
>>	Shift right

Bitwise AND operator &

The bitwise operator is represented by a single ampersand sign (&) and it is very commonly used.The result of the bitwise AND operation is 1 if both the bits have the value as 1; otherwise, the result is always 0.

Example 1 – Bitwise AND Operator

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int a = 12, b = 25;
    printf("Output = %d", a&b);
    return 0;
}

Output

Output = 8

Bitwise OR operator |

The output of bitwise OR is 1 if at least one corresponding bit of two operands is 1. In C Programming, the bitwise OR operator is denoted by |.

Example 1 – Bitwise OR Operator

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int a = 12, b = 25;
    printf("Output = %d", a|b);
    return 0;
}

Output

Output = 29

Bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) operator ^

This is represented by a symbol (^). Two integer expressions are written on each side of the (^) operator.

The result of the bitwise Exclusive-OR operation is 1 if only one of the expression has the value as 1; otherwise, the result is always 0.

Example 1 – Bitwise XOR Operator

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int a = 12, b = 25;
    printf("Output = %d", a^b);
    return 0;
}

Output

Output = 21

Bitwise complement operator ~

Bitwise complement operator is a unary operator (works on only one operand). It changes 1 to 0 and 0 to 1. It is denoted by ~.

Example 1 – Bitwise complement Operator

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf("Output = %d\n",~35);
    printf("Output = %d\n",~-12);
    return 0;
}

Output

Output = -36
Output = 11

Shift Operators in C programming

There are two shift operators in C programming:

• Right shift operator
• Left shift operator.

Right Shift Operator

Right shift operator shifts all bits towards right by certain number of specified bits. It is denoted by >>.

Left Shift Operator

Left shift operator shifts all bits towards left by a certain number of specified bits. The bit positions that have been vacated by the left shift operator are filled with 0. The symbol of the left shift operator is <<.

Example 1 – Shift Operators

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int num=212, i;
    for (i=0; i<=2; ++i)
        printf("Right shift by %d: %d\n", i, num>>i);

     printf("\n");

     for (i=0; i<=2; ++i) 
        printf("Left shift by %d: %d\n", i, num<<i);    
    
     return 0;
}

Output

Right Shift by 0: 212
Right Shift by 1: 106
Right Shift by 2: 53

Left Shift by 0: 212
Left Shift by 1: 424
Left Shift by 2: 848