Bitwise Operators

Last Updated: Jan 2026

Bitwise operators work on numbers at the binary (bit) level. They treat numbers as a sequence of bits (0s and 1s).

🗂 List of Bitwise Operators

Operator	Name	Description	Example	Result
&	AND	Sets each bit to 1 if both bits are 1	5 & 1	1
\|	OR	Sets each bit to 1 if any bit is 1	5 \| 1	5
^	XOR	Sets each bit to 1 if bits are different	5 ^ 1	4
~	NOT	Inverts all bits (1 → 0, 0 → 1)	~5	-6
<<	Left Shift	Shifts bits left (multiply by 2)	5 << 1	10
>>	Right Shift	Shifts bits right (divide by 2)	5 >> 1	2

✏ Mini Example

int a = 5; // binary: 0101
int b = 1; // binary: 0001

printf("%d\n",(a & b));  // 1  → (0101 & 0001)
printf("%d\n",(a | b));  // 5  → (0101 | 0001)
printf("%d\n",(a ^ b));  // 4  → (0101 ^ 0001)
printf("%d\n",(~a));     // -6 → (bitwise NOT)
printf("%d\n",(a << 1)); // 10 → (0101 → 1010)
printf("%d\n",(a >> 1)); // 2  → (0101 → 0010)

🧮 Binary Visualization

Operation	Binary Form	Result
5 & 1	0101 & 0001	0001 (1)
5 \| 1	0101 \| 0001	0101 (5)
5 ^ 1	0101 ^ 0001	0100 (4)

Bitwise with Compound Operators

int x = 5;
x &= 3; // x = x & 3
printf("%d\n",x); // 1

x |= 2; // x = x | 2
printf("%d\n",x); // 3

x ^= 1; // x = x ^ 1
printf("%d\n",x); // 2

x <<= 1; // x = x << 1
printf("%d\n",x); // 4

💡 Quick Practice

Find a & b, a | b, and a ^ b for a = 12, b = 5.
Check what happens for ~7.
Multiply 6 by 2 using <<.
Divide 12 by 2 using >>.
Try bitwise compound: int x = 8; x >>= 2; printf("%d\n",x);

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