There are 6 binary/bitwise operators in Python:
- Complement/Not (
~) - And (
&) - Or (
|) - XOR (
^) - Left Shift (
<<) - Right Shift (
>>)
A fantastic python method to help us along our journey is bin(). The bin function will return a binary representation of a base 10 integer we pass to it.
>>> bin(1)
'0b1'
>>> bin(5)
'0b101'
Now let’s explore the 6 bitwise operators by learning a bit about each of them.
Complement/Not (~)
Returns one’s complement of the number.
It is unary and has the effect of ‘flipping’ bits.
Returns the complement of x – the number you get by switching each 1 for a 0 and each 0 for a 1. This is the same as -x – 1.
And (&)
Returns 1 if both the bits are 1 else 0.
Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands
Does a “bitwise and”. Each bit of the output is 1 if the corresponding bit of x AND of y is 1, otherwise it’s 0.
In fact, we can also use the bitwise & to tell us if an integer is odd or even:
>>> 2 & True
0
>>> 3 & True
1
>>> 11 & True
1
>>> 9 & True
1
>>> 8 & True
0
>>> 80 & True
0
>>> 82 & True
0
>>> 83 & True
1
Or (|)
Returns 1 if either of the bit is 1 else 0.
It copies a bit if it exists in either operand.
Does a “bitwise or”. Each bit of the output is 0 if the corresponding bit of x AND of y is 0, otherwise it’s 1.
XOR (^)
Returns 1 if one of the bit is 1 and other is 0 else returns false.
It copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both.
Does a “bitwise exclusive or”. Each bit of the output is the same as the corresponding bit in x if that bit in y is 0, and it’s the complement of the bit in x if that bit in y is 1.
Shifting
These operators are used to shift the bits of a number left or right thereby multiplying or dividing the number by two respectively. They can be used when we have to multiply or divide a number by two.
Left Shift («)
Shifts the bits of the number to the left and fills 0 on voids left as a result. Similar effect as of multiplying the number with some power of two.
The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand.
Returns x with the bits shifted to the left by y places (and new bits on the right-hand-side are zeros). This is the same as multiplying x by 2**y.
Right Shift (»)
Shifts the bits of the number to the right and fills 0 on voids left as a result. Similar effect as of dividing the number with some power of two.
The left operands value is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand.
Returns x with the bits shifted to the right by y places. This is the same as //‘ing x by 2**y.