.. highlight:: cpp .. _lang-compoundbitwise: Compound Bitwise Operators (``&=``, ``|=``, ``^=``) =================================================== The compound bitwise operators perform their calculations at the bit level of variables. They are often used to clear and set specific bits of a variable. See the :ref:`bitwise math tutorial ` for more information on bitwise operators. .. contents:: Contents :local: .. _lang-compoundbitwise-and: Compound bitwise AND (``&=``) ----------------------------- The compound bitwise AND operator ``&=`` is often used with a variable and a constant to force particular bits in a variable to be zero. This is often referred to in programming guides as "clearing" or "resetting" bits. In a program, writing the line ``x &= y;`` is equivalent to writing ``x = x & y;``. That is, the value of ``x`` after the line will be equal to its old value bitwise ANDed with the value of ``y``:: x &= y; // equivalent to x = x & y; You can use any integer variable for ``x`` (i.e., any variable of type ``int``, ``char``, ``byte``, ``long long``, etc.). You can use either an integer variable or any :ref:`integer value ` (like ``3`` or ``0x20``) for ``y``. Before doing an example of ``&=``, let's first review the Bitwise AND (``&``) operator:: 0 0 1 1 operand1 0 1 0 1 operand2 ---------- 0 0 0 1 (operand1 & operand2) = result As shown above, bits that are "bitwise ANDed" with 0 become 0, while bits that are "bitwise ANDed" with 1 are left unchanged. So, if ``b`` is a ``byte`` variable, then ``b & B00000000`` equals zero, and ``b & B11111111`` equals ``b``. .. _lang-compoundbitwise-binconst: .. note:: The above uses :ref:`binary constants `\ . The numbers are still the same value in other representations, they just might not be as easy to understand. Normally, in C and C++ code, :ref:`hexadecimal ` or :ref:`octal ` are used when we're interested in an integer's bits, rather than its value as a number. While hexadecimal and octal literals might be harder to understand at first, you should really take the time to learn them. They're part of C, C++, and many other programming languages, while binary constants are available only for compatibility with Arduino. Also, ``B00000000`` is shown for clarity, but zero in any number format is zero. So, to clear (set to zero) bits 0 and 1 of a one-byte variable, while leaving the rest of the variable's bits unchanged, use the compound bitwise AND operator ``&=`` with the constant ``B11111100`` (hexadecimal ``0xFC``\ ):: 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 variable 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 mask ---------------------- 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ unchanged cleared Here is the same representation with the variable's bits replaced with the symbol ``x``\ :: x x x x x x x x variable 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 mask ---------------------- x x x x x x 0 0 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ unchanged cleared So, using a byte variable ``b``\ , if we say:: b = B10101010; // B10101010 == 0xAA b &= B11111100; // B11111100 == 0xFC then we will have :: b == B10101000; // B10101000 == 0xA8 .. _lang-compoundbitwise-or: Compound bitwise OR (``|=``) ---------------------------- The compound bitwise OR operator ``|=`` is often used with a variable and a constant to "set" (set to 1) particular bits in a variable. In a program, writing the line ``x |= y;`` is equivalent to writing ``x = x | y;``. That is, the value of ``x`` after the line will be equal to its old value bitwise ORed with the value of ``y``:: x |= y; // equivalent to x = x | y; You can use any integer variable for ``x`` (i.e., any variable of type ``int``, ``char``, ``long long`` etc.). You can use either an integer variable or any integer value (like ``3`` or ``0x20``) for ``y``. (This works the same way as :ref:`compound bitwise AND `\ , ``&=``). Before doing an example of ``|=``, let's first review the Bitwise OR (``|``) operator:: 0 0 1 1 operand1 0 1 0 1 operand2 ---------- 0 1 1 1 (operand1 | operand2) = result Bits that are "bitwise ORed" with 0 are unchanged, while bits that are "bitwise ORed" with 1 are set to 1. So if ``b`` is a ``byte`` variable, then ``b | B00000000`` equals ``b``, and ``b & B11111111`` equals ``B11111111`` (here we've used binary constants; see the :ref:`note ` above). So, to set bits 0 and 1 of a one-byte variable, while leaving the rest of the variable unchanged, use the compound bitwise OR operator (``|=``) with the constant ``B00000011`` (hexadecimal ``0x3``):: 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 variable 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 mask ---------------------- 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ unchanged set Here is the same representation with the variable's bits replaced with the symbol ``x``:: x x x x x x x x variable 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 mask ---------------------- x x x x x x 1 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ unchanged set So, using a byte variable ``b``, if we say:: b = B10101010; // B10101010 == 0xAA b |= B00000011; // B00000011 == 0x3 then we will have :: b == B10101011; // B10101011 == 0xAB .. _lang-compoundbitwise-xor: Compound bitwise XOR (``^=``) ----------------------------- The compound bitwise XOR operator ``^=`` is used with a variable and a constant to "toggle" (change 0 to 1, and 1 to 0) particular bits in a variable. In a program, writing the line ``x ^= y;`` is equivalent to writing ``x = x ^ y;``. That is, the value of ``x`` after the line will be equal to its old value bitwise XORed with the value of ``y``:: x ^= y; // equivalent to x = x ^ y; You can use any integer variable for ``x`` (i.e., any variable of type ``int``, ``char``, ``long long``, etc.). You can use either an integer variable or any integer value (like ``3`` or ``0x20``) for ``y``. (This works the same way as :ref:`&= ` and :ref:`\|= `; in fact, these three operators all work the same in this way). Before doing an example of ``^=``, let's first review the Bitwise XOR operator, ``^``:: 0 0 1 1 operand1 0 1 0 1 operand2 ---------- 0 1 1 0 (operand1 ^ operand2) = result One way to look at bitwise XOR is that each bit in the result is a 1 if the input bits are different, or 0 if they are the same. Another way to think about it is that the result bit will be 1 when *exactly* one (no more, no less) of the input bits is 1; otherwise, it will be zero. This means that if you XOR a bit with 1, it will change (or toggle) its value, while if you XOR a bit with 0, it stays the same. So, to toggle bits 0 and 1 of a one-byte variable, while leaving the rest of the variable unchanged, use the compound bitwise XOR operator ``^=`` with the constant ``B00000011`` (hexadecimal ``0x3``\ ; see :ref:`note ` above):: 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 variable 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 mask ---------------------- 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ unchanged toggled So, using a byte variable ``b``, if we say:: b = B10101010; // B10101010 == 0xAA b ^= B00000011; // B00000011 == 0x3 then we will have :: b == B10101001; // B10101001 == 0xA9 See Also -------- - :ref:`Boolean operations ` (``&&``, ``||``) - :ref:`Bitwise operators ` (``&``, ``|``, ``^``, ``~``) .. include:: cc-attribution.txt