Bitwise Operators in C#

Bitwise operators in C# allow perform operations directly on the bits of the operands. Instead of working with full integer values, bitwise operators treat each bit of the operands separately.

C# provides several bitwise operators, each with its own specific functionality. Here is a summary table.

Types of bitwise operators in C#

Bitwise AND

The AND bitwise operator performs a logical AND operation between each pair of corresponding bits of two operands. The result is 1 only if both bits are 1, otherwise the result is 0.

int a = 12; // 1100 in binary
int b = 10; // 1010 in binary
int result = a & b; // 1000 in binary, which is 8 in decimal
Console.WriteLine(result); // Output: 8

Bitwise OR

The OR bitwise operator performs a logical OR operation between each pair of corresponding bits of two operands. The result is 1 if at least one of the bits is 1, otherwise the result is 0.

int a = 12; // 1100 in binary
int b = 10; // 1010 in binary
int result = a | b; // 1110 in binary, which is 14 in decimal
Console.WriteLine(result); // Output: 14

Bitwise XOR

The XOR bitwise operator performs a logical XOR (exclusive) operation between each pair of corresponding bits of two operands. The result is 1 if one and only one of the bits is 1, otherwise the result is 0.

int a = 12; // 1100 in binary
int b = 10; // 1010 in binary
int result = a ^ b; // 0110 in binary, which is 6 in decimal
Console.WriteLine(result); // Output: 6

Bitwise NOT

The NOT bitwise operator performs a bitwise negation of its operand, inverting each bit of the operand (the 0s become 1s and vice versa).

int a = 12; // 1100 in binary
int result = ~a; // 0011 in binary, which is -13 in decimal (in two's complement)
Console.WriteLine(result); // Output: -13

Left Shift

The left shift operator shifts the bits of its operand to the left by a specific number of positions, filling the empty bits on the right with zeros.

int a = 3; // 0011 in binary
int result = a << 2; // 1100 in binary, which is 12 in decimal
Console.WriteLine(result); // Output: 12

Right Shift

The right shift operator shifts the bits of its operand to the right by a specific number of positions. The empty bits on the left are filled with the sign bit (for negative numbers) or with zeros (for positive numbers).

int a = 12; // 1100 in binary
int result = a >> 2; // 0011 in binary, which is 3 in decimal
Console.WriteLine(result); // Output: 3