C++ Bitwise Operators Explained
Bitwise operators are used to manipulate the binary bits of integers in C++. Some commonly used bitwise operators include:
- Bitwise AND operator (&): Performs an AND operation on the corresponding bits of two operands, resulting in 1 only when both corresponding bits in the two operands are 1.
- Bitwise OR operator (|): performs a logical OR operation on each pair of corresponding bits in the two operands, resulting in a 1 if either of the corresponding bits in the two operands is 1.
- Bitwise XOR operator (^): Performs a bitwise XOR operation on the corresponding bits of two operands, resulting in 1 only if the corresponding bits of the two operands are different.
- Left shift operator (<<): Shifts the binary representation of a number to the left by a specified number of bits.
- Right shift operator (>>) : shifts the binary digits of a number to the right by a specified number of positions.
These bitwise operators are very efficient when it comes to handling bit operations, often used for optimizing code and dealing with problems related to bit manipulation.