Bitwise Operators

Intermediate ~20 min read

Bitwise operators work directly on the binary representation of integers. While less common in high-level business logic, they are crucial for cryptography, network protocols, and optimizing performance.

Bitwise Operations

These operators perform operations on each individual bit of the operands.

Operator	Name	Description	Example (A=5, B=3)
`&`	Bitwise AND	1 if both bits are 1	`5 & 3` = 1 (0101 & 0011 = 0001)
`\|`	Bitwise OR	1 if at least one bit is 1	`5 \| 3` = 7 (0101 \| 0011 = 0111)
`^`	Bitwise XOR	1 if bits are different	`5 ^ 3` = 6 (0101 ^ 0011 = 0110)
`~`	Bitwise Compliment	Inverts all bits (0s become 1s)	`~5` = -6 (conceptually)

public class BitwiseOperators {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a = 5; // Binary: 0000 0101
        int b = 3; // Binary: 0000 0011

System.out.println("a = 5 (" + Integer.toBinaryString(a) + ")");
        System.out.println("b = 3 (" + Integer.toBinaryString(b) + ")");

// Bitwise AND (&)
        // 0101 & 0011 = 0001 (1)
        int andResult = a & b;
        System.out.println("a & b = " + andResult);

// Bitwise OR (|)
        // 0101 | 0011 = 0111 (7)
        int orResult = a | b;
        System.out.println("a | b = " + orResult);

// Bitwise XOR (^)
        // 0101 ^ 0011 = 0110 (6)
        int xorResult = a ^ b;
        System.out.println("a ^ b = " + xorResult);

// Left Shift (<<)
        // 0101 << 1 = 1010 (10)
        int leftShift = a << 1;
        System.out.println("a << 1 = " + leftShift);

// Right Shift (>>)
        // 0101 >> 1 = 0010 (2)
        int rightShift = a >> 1;
        System.out.println("a >> 1 = " + rightShift);
    }
}

Output

Click Run to execute your code

Bit Shift Operators

Shift operators move the bits of a number to the left or right.

Operator	Name	Description
`<<`	Left Shift	Shifts bits left, filling with 0s. (Multiplies by 2)
`>>`	Signed Right Shift	Shifts bits right, preserving the sign bit. (Divides by 2)
`>>>`	Unsigned Right Shift	Shifts bits right, filling with 0s (ignoring sign).

Performance Tip: Shifting left by 1 (x << 1) is equivalent to multiplying by 2. Shifting right by 1 (x >> 1) is equivalent to integer division by 2. This was used historically for performance, but modern compilers optimize standard multiplication/division just as well.

Summary

Bitwise operators evaluate numbers at the binary level.
&, |, ^ work similarly to logical operators but on bits.
<< shifts bits left (multiply by 2^n).
>> shifts bits right (divide by 2^n), preserving sign.
Use Integer.toBinaryString() to inspect binary values in code.

Previous Logical Operators

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Bitwise Operations

Bit Shift Operators

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