What are bitwise operators and their primary use cases in JavaScript?
What are bitwise operators and their primary use cases in JavaScript?
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30-Oct-2023
Updated on 31-Oct-2023
Aryan Kumar
31-Oct-2023Bitwise operators in JavaScript are used to perform operations on the individual bits of binary representations of numbers. These operators manipulate the binary digits (0s and 1s) of integer values. There are several bitwise operators in JavaScript:
Bitwise AND (&): The & operator is used to perform a bitwise AND operation on the corresponding bits of two numbers. It returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 only if the corresponding bits in both input numbers are 1. Common use cases include isolating specific bits and performing bit-level tests.
Bitwise OR (|): The | operator is used to perform a bitwise OR operation on the corresponding bits of two numbers. It returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 if at least one of the corresponding bits in the input numbers is 1. This is often used for combining sets of flags and bit-level manipulations.
Bitwise XOR (^): The ^ operator is used to perform a bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) operation on the corresponding bits of two numbers. It returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 if the corresponding bits in the input numbers are different (one is 0, the other is 1). It's used for tasks like toggling specific bits and performing bit-level arithmetic.
Bitwise NOT (~): The ~ operator is a unary operator used to invert the bits of a number. It changes each 0 bit to 1 and each 1 bit to 0. It can be used for complementing binary representations and other bit-level operations.
Left Shift (<<): The << operator is used for left-shifting the bits of a number by a specified number of positions. It effectively multiplies the number by 2 raised to the power of the shift count. This is often used in situations where you need to perform fast multiplication and division by powers of 2.
Right Shift (>>): The >> operator is used for right-shifting the bits of a number by a specified number of positions. It effectively divides the number by 2 raised to the power of the shift count. Right shifting can be used for quick integer division by powers of 2.
Unsigned Right Shift (>>>): The >>> operator is similar to the >> operator but it always fills the vacant left bit positions with zeros, ensuring that the result is an unsigned integer. It's used when you need to ensure that no sign extension occurs during the right shift.
Primary use cases for bitwise operators in JavaScript include:
These operators are particularly useful in scenarios where performance and memory efficiency are critical, such as in embedded systems, graphics programming, and low-level data processing.