What are the basic Bitwise Operators?

Updated Apr 28, 2026

Short answer

AND (&), OR (|), XOR (^), NOT (~), Left Shift (<<), Right Shift (>>).

Deep explanation

Bit manipulation at the hardware level is faster than arithmetic. AND (&), OR (|), XOR (^), NOT (~), Left Shift (<<), Right Shift (>>). This is fundamental for low-level optimization.

Real-world example

Flag management in simple game engines.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting that bitwise operators have lower precedence than comparison operators.

Follow-up questions

  • What is 1 << 3?

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