What does the AND operator do?

Bitwise AND (&) compares two numbers bit by bit and produces a 1 in each position only where both numbers have a 1. It's commonly used to check or clear specific bits (a 'mask').

What does the OR operator do?

Bitwise OR (|) produces a 1 in each bit position where at least one of the two numbers has a 1. It's commonly used to set specific bits without disturbing others.

What does XOR do, and why is it special?

Bitwise XOR (^) produces a 1 only where the two numbers differ at that bit. XOR is reversible — applying the same XOR twice returns the original value — which makes it useful for toggling bits and simple encryption.

Bitwise NOT (~) flips every bit: 0 becomes 1 and 1 becomes 0. Because of how negative numbers are represented (two's complement), ~x is equal to -(x + 1).

What's the difference between left shift and right shift?

Left shift ( >) moves bits right, dividing by 2 for each position (rounding toward negative infinity for negative numbers).

Why is the input limited to 32-bit integers?

JavaScript's bitwise operators, like those in many programming languages, operate on 32-bit signed integers internally. Values outside the range −2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 can't be represented exactly by these operations.

What does the bit diagram show?

It shows all 32 bits of each operand and the result, with '1' bits highlighted, so you can visually trace exactly which bits were set, cleared, or flipped by the operation.

Where are bitwise operations used in real programs?

They're used for permission flags (like Unix file permissions), compact data storage (packing several small values into one integer), fast arithmetic tricks, color manipulation in graphics (RGB channels), and cryptographic algorithms.

Bitwise Calculator — AND, OR, XOR, NOT, and Bit Shift Operations

Our Bitwise Calculator computes AND, OR, XOR, NOT, and bit-shift (<<, >>) operations on 32-bit signed integers, the same operations used constantly in programming, flags, and low-level data manipulation. Every result comes with a visual bit diagram showing the binary representation of each operand and the output, bit by bit, so you can see exactly which bits changed and why.

Quick Answer

Bitwise operators (AND, OR, XOR, NOT, and shifts) work directly on a number's binary representation. Enter one or two integers, pick an operation, and this calculator shows the exact result along with a bit-by-bit visual diagram of both operands and the output.

Value A

Value B

bitwiseCalc.noResults

How to Use the Bitwise Calculator — AND, OR, XOR, NOT, Bit Shifts Online

1
Choose an operation: AND, OR, XOR, NOT, left shift, or right shift.
2
Enter the first integer value.
3
For binary operations, enter the second value (or shift amount for the shift operators).
4
Click 'Calculate' to see the result along with a bit-by-bit visual diagram.

Why Use Bitwise Calculator — AND, OR, XOR, NOT, Bit Shifts Online?

Bitwise operations work directly on the binary representation of numbers rather than their decimal value, which makes them fast and essential for tasks like setting permission flags, packing multiple values into one integer, implementing hash functions, and low-level graphics or networking code. Reasoning about binary by hand is error-prone once numbers get larger than a few bits, so our calculator computes the exact result and renders every operand as a row of bits, making it immediately clear which specific bit positions the operation affected.

Frequently Asked Questions

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