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Python Bitwise Operators

How Python bitwise operators work, including bitwise AND, OR, NOT, XOR, and left and right shift operations on binary values.

Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators act on bits and perform the bit-by-bit operations.

These are used to operate on binary numbers.

Operator Description Example
& Bitwise AND x & y = 0 (0000 0000)
&124; Bitwise OR x &124; y = 14 (0000 1110)
~ Bitwise NOT ~x = -11 (1111 0101)
^ Bitwise XOR x ^ y = 14 (0000 1110)
>> Bitwise right shift x >> 2 = 2 (0000 0010)
<< Bitwise left shift x << 2 = 40 (0010 1000)

Examples

Bitwise AND, OR, NOT, XOR

a = 10
b = 2

print(a & b) # 2
print(a | b) # 10
print(~a)    # -11
print(a ^ b) # 8

Bitwise right shift and left shift

a = 10
b = -10
 
# print bitwise right shift operator
print(a >> 1) # 5
print(b >> 1) # -5
 
a = 5
b = -10
 
# print bitwise left shift operator
print(a << 1) # 10
print(b << 1) # -20
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