Important: The C bit operators act on integers!
They are called bit operators because they act on each pair of bits at the same position of the two integers operands.
| Bit operation (at each bit position) |
C Notation |
|---|---|
| AND | a & b |
| OR | a | b |
| XOR | a ^ b |
| Not | ~a |
Examples (for 4 bit integers)
| x | 1011 |
| y | 0101 |
| x | y | 1111 |
| x | 1011 |
| y | 0101 |
| x & y | 0001 |
| x | 1011 |
| y | 0101 |
| x ^ y | 1110 |
| x | 1011 |
| ~x | 0100 |