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Bitwise Operators and Assertion

Learn about the usage of bitwise operators and assertions in Python.

Bitwise operators

Bitwise operators allow us to work with the individual bits of a byte. There are many bitwise operators available, as shown in the table below.

Operator

Name

Purpose

~

NOT (also called complement operator)

It converts 0 to 1 and 1 to 0.

<<

LEFT SHIFT

Shift out the desired number of bits from left.

>>

RIGHT SHIFT

Shift out the desired number of bits from right.

&

AND

Check whether a bit is on / off. Put off a particular bit.

|

OR

Put on a particular bit.

^

XOR

It toggles a bit.

The following code shows the usage of bitwise operators:

Python 3.8
ch = 32
print(ch)
dh = ~ch # toggles 0s to1s and 1s to 0s
print(dh)
eh = ch << 3 # << shifts bits in ch 3 positions to left
print(eh) # 32 x 2^3
fh = ch >> 2 # >> shifts bits in ch 2 positions to right
print(fh) # 32 / 2^2
a = 45 & 32 # and bits of 45 and 32
print(a)
b = 45 | 32 # or bits of 45 and 32
print(b)
c = 45 ^ 32 # xor bits of 45 and 32
print(c)

Remember:

  • If we perform the & operation on anything with 0, it will become 0.
  • If we perform the | operation on anything with 1, it will become 1.
  • If we perform the ^ operation on 1 with 1, it
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