Bitwise Operators

There are six (6) bitwise operators in C:

• Bitwise NOT/complement (~)
• Bitwise AND (&)
• Bitwise OR (|)
• Bitwise XOR (^)
• Left shift («)
• Right shift (»)

Bit shifting

We can use the « and » operators to bit shift a number. Left shifting a number by 1 digit is the same as multiplying that number by 2. Right shifting the number by 1 digit is the same as an integer division by 2 (dividing by 2 and rounding the result downwards).

We can use the right shift and a logical AND to access each bit in a number:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
  int number = 8;
  for (int i = 0; i < number; i++) {
    printf("%d in binary: %d %d %d\n", i, i >> 2 & 1, i >> 1 & 1, i & 1);
  }
  return 0;
}

Doing a logical AND with a number gives us the rightmost bit.