C# Bitwise Operations - Muhammad Rizwan

Bitwise Operations are those operations applied to data at bit level. Each character (not unicode) takes 1 byte of memory – that’s 8 bits and it’s represented as an array of 0 and 1. A bitwise operation focuses on modifying directly the character’s bits in order to get a new value.
Operators that can be applied to bits:

1	<<	moves the bits to the left
1	>>	moves the bits to the right
2	&	applies AND gate between 2 bits
3	\|	applies OR gate between 2 bits
4	^	applies XOR gate between 2 bits
5	~	applies NOT gate

1. Bit Shifting

( symbols: << and >> )
This operators are used to move (shift) the bits to the left (<<) or to the right (>>). It will only move the bits of 1.
Syntax
character << number of moves
number of moves >> character
Example:
Integer 1 is in binary: 00000001. Shifting the bits to the left, means we’ll move all the bits of 1 to the left, so we’ll get 00000010 which is 2 in decimal. If we shift the bits to the right we’ll get 00000000 – which is 0.

binary 0=	0	0
binary 1=	0	1
binary 2=	1	0

Note: you won’t obtain new values if you have no bits of 1 to shift.
Note #2: shifting bits of 1 to the left will return the powers of 2.
Usage in C#

Console.WriteLine(1 << 1); //moves the bits of 1 to the left => 2
Console.WriteLine(1 >> 1); //moves the bits of 1 to the right => 0

Console.WriteLine(1 << 1); //moves the bits of 1 to the left => 2

Console.WriteLine(1 >> 1); //moves the bits of 1 to the right => 0

2. AND

( symbol: & )
Aplies the operator AND between 2 bits, from 2 characters.
1 & 0 = 0
0 & 1 = 0
0 & 0 = 0
1 & 1 = 1
Syntax
character & character
* not to be confused with the double-and symbol: && which is used in conditional structures
Example: 1 & 3 equals 1. See the table below why:

binary 1=	0	1
binary 3=	1	1
result=	0	1

Usage in C#

Console.WriteLine(1 & 3); //outputs 1

1 2	Console.WriteLine(1 & 3); //outputs 1

3. OR

( symbol: | )
Applies OR, between 2 bits.
1 | 0 = 1
0 | 1 = 1
0 | 0 = 0
1 | 1 = 1
Syntax
character | character
* not to be confused with the double-line symbol: || which is used in conditional structures
Example: 1 | 3 equals 3. The table below explains why:

binary 1=	0	1
binary 3=	1	1
result=	1	1

Usage in C#

Console.WriteLine(1 | 3); //outputs 3

1 2	Console.WriteLine(1 \| 3); //outputs 3

4. XOR

( symbol: ^ )
Applies XOR between 2 bits, with the following rules:

1 ^ 0 = 1
0 ^ 1 = 1
0 ^ 0 = 0
1 ^ 1 = 0
Syntax
character ^ character
Example: 1 ^ 3 equals 2 :

binary 1=	0	1
binary 3=	1	1
result=	1	0

Usage in C#

Console.WriteLine(1 ^ 3); //outputs 2

1 2	Console.WriteLine(1 ^ 3); //outputs 2

5. NOT

( symbol: ~ )
The operator NOT is used to negate a bit:

~1 = 0
~0 = 1
Syntax
~ character
Example: ~2 equals -3

binary 2=	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
binary -3=	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1

Note: You can also negate a number N which is different from 0 by using the following expression: NOT N = -1 * N – 1 => NOT 2 = -3 ; NOT -4 = 3.
Usage in C#

Console.WriteLine(~2); //outputs -3

1 2	Console.WriteLine(~2); //outputs -3