In this chapter, we will learn about JavaScript bitwise operators. These operators perform operations on binary numbers at the bit level. We will cover:
- Bitwise AND (&)
- Bitwise OR (|)
- Bitwise XOR (^)
- Bitwise NOT (~)
- Left Shift (<<)
- Right Shift (>>)
- Zero-fill Right Shift (>>>)
Bitwise AND (&)
The bitwise AND operator compares each bit of two numbers. If both bits are 1, the result is 1; otherwise, the result is 0.
Syntax
result = number1 & number2;
Example
let a = 5; // 5 is 00000101 in binary
let b = 3; // 3 is 00000011 in binary
let result = a & b; // result is 00000001 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 1
Bitwise OR (|)
The bitwise OR operator compares each bit of two numbers. If at least one bit is 1, the result is 1; otherwise, the result is 0.
Syntax
result = number1 | number2;
Example
let a = 5; // 5 is 00000101 in binary
let b = 3; // 3 is 00000011 in binary
let result = a | b; // result is 00000111 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 7
Bitwise XOR (^)
The bitwise XOR operator compares each bit of two numbers. If the bits are different, the result is 1; otherwise, the result is 0.
Syntax
result = number1 ^ number2;
Example
let a = 5; // 5 is 00000101 in binary
let b = 3; // 3 is 00000011 in binary
let result = a ^ b; // result is 00000110 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 6
Bitwise NOT (~)
The bitwise NOT operator inverts the bits of a number. Each 0 becomes 1 and each 1 becomes 0.
Syntax
result = ~number;
Example
let a = 5; // 5 is 00000101 in binary
let result = ~a; // result is 11111010 in binary (two's complement representation)
console.log(result); // Output: -6
Left Shift (<<)
The left shift operator shifts the bits of a number to the left by a specified number of positions. The rightmost bits are filled with 0.
Syntax
result = number << positions;
Example
let a = 5; // 5 is 00000101 in binary
let result = a << 2; // result is 00010100 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 20
Right Shift (>>)
The right shift operator shifts the bits of a number to the right by a specified number of positions. The leftmost bits are filled with the sign bit (the bit farthest to the left), which means it preserves the sign of the number.
Syntax
result = number >> positions;
Example
let a = 20; // 20 is 00010100 in binary
let result = a >> 2; // result is 00000101 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 5
let b = -20; // -20 is 11101100 in binary (two's complement representation)
result = b >> 2; // result is 11111011 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: -5
Zero-fill Right Shift (>>>)
The zero-fill right shift operator shifts the bits of a number to the right by a specified number of positions. The leftmost bits are filled with 0.
Syntax
result = number >>> positions;
Example
let a = 20; // 20 is 00010100 in binary
let result = a >>> 2; // result is 00000101 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 5
let b = -20; // -20 is 11101100 in binary (two's complement representation)
result = b >>> 2; // result is 00111011 in binary
console.log(result); // Output: 1073741819
Conclusion
In this chapter, you learned about JavaScript bitwise operators, including bitwise AND, OR, XOR, NOT, left shift, right shift, and zero-fill right shift. These operators are useful for low-level operations and manipulating binary data.