C Primer Plus®, Third Edition

Chapter 15. Bit Fiddling

You will learn about the following in this chapter:

• Operators

  ~   &   |^
  >>   ≪
  &=   |=   ^=   >>=   ≪=
  

In this chapter, you review binary, octal, and hexadecimal number notations. Then you learn about two C facilities for handling the individual bits in a value: bitwise operators and bit fields.

With C, you can manipulate the individual bits in a variable. Perhaps you are wondering why anyone would want to. Be assured that sometimes this ability is necessary, or at least useful. For example, a hardware device is often controlled by sending it a byte in which each bit has a particular meaning. Also, operating system information about files is often stored by using particular bits to indicate particular items.

We'll investigate C's ...