---
title: "Explain the bitwise OR (|) operator in JavaScript."  
description: "Explain the bitwise OR (|) operator in JavaScript."  
author: "Revati S Misra"  
published: 2023-10-30  
updated: 2023-10-31  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160336/explain-the-bitwise-or-operator-in-javascript  
category: "javascript"  
tags: ["javascript", "bitwise operators"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Explain the bitwise OR (|) operator in JavaScript.

[Explain the bitwise](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160334/explain-the-bitwise-and-operator-in-javascript) OR (|) [operator](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/144/union-intersection-and-except-operator-in-sql-server) in JavaScript.

## Replies

### Reply by Aryan Kumar

The bitwise OR (|) operator in JavaScript is used to perform a bitwise OR operation on the individual bits of two numbers. It returns a number where each bit is set (1) if at least one of the corresponding bits of the two numbers being ORed is 1.

Here's how the bitwise OR operator works with a simple example:

```plaintext
let num1 = 5; // Binary representation: 00000101
let num2 = 3; // Binary representation: 00000011

let result = num1 | num2;
```

In this example, the OR operation is performed on **num1** and **num2**. The result has a 1 at any position where at least one of the input numbers has a 1. So, **5 | 3** results in 7 because the bits in the binary representation differ at the 2^0, 2^1, and 2^2 positions.

The bitwise OR operator is often used in situations where you want to set specific bits in a binary representation to 1, combining different sets of flags, or performing other bit-level manipulations in your code.


---

Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160336/explain-the-bitwise-or-operator-in-javascript

Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.