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Bitwise Operators in Java

Last Updated : 18 Apr, 2025

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In Java, Operators are special symbols that perform specific operations on one or more than one operands. They build the foundation for any type of calculation or logic in programming.

There are so many operators in Java, among all, bitwise operators are used to perform operations at the bit level. These operators are useful when we work with low-level programming, bit manipulation tasks like flags, encryption, and graphics programming etc.

What Are Bitwise Operators?

Bitwise operators works on individual bits as discussed above. It works with integer types (byte, short, int, long). When a bitwise operation is performed, each bit of the particular number is treated as an individual based on the operation.

Below are the main bitwise operators available in Java:

Operator	Description
&	Bitwise AND
\|	Bitwise OR
^	Bitwise XOR
~	Bitwise Complement (NOT
<<	Left Shift
>>	Signed Right Shift
>>>	Unsigned Right Shift

Now, let’s look at each one of the bitwise operators in Java:

1. Bitwise AND (&)

This operator is a binary operator, denoted by ‘&.’ It returns bit by bit AND of input values, i.e., if both bits are 1, it gives 1, else it shows 0.

Example:

a = 5 = 0101 (In Binary)
b = 7 = 0111 (In Binary)

Bitwise AND Operation of 5 and 7
0101
& 0111
________
0101 = 5 (In decimal)

2. Bitwise OR (|)

This operator is a binary operator, denoted by ‘|’. It returns bit by bit OR of input values, i.e., if either of the bits is 1, it gives 1, else it shows 0.

Example:

a = 5 = 0101 (In Binary)
b = 7 = 0111 (In Binary)

Bitwise OR Operation of 5 and 7
0101
| 0111
________
0111 = 7 (In decimal)

3. Bitwise XOR (^)

This operator is a binary operator, denoted by ‘^.’ It returns bit by bit XOR of input values, i.e., if corresponding bits are different, it gives 1, else it shows 0.

Example:

a = 5 = 0101 (In Binary)
b = 7 = 0111 (In Binary)

Bitwise XOR Operation of 5 and 7
0101
^ 0111
________
0010 = 2 (In decimal)

4. Bitwise Complement (~)

This operator is a unary operator, denoted by ‘~.’ It returns the one’s complement representation of the input value, i.e., with all bits inverted, which means it makes every 0 to 1, and every 1 to 0.

Example:

a = 5 = 0101 (In Binary)

Bitwise Complement Operation of 5 in java (8 bits)

~ 00000101
________
11111010 = -6 (In decimal)

Explanation: ~5 inverts bits to 11111111 11111111 11111111 11111010, which is -6 in two’s complement form.

Twist in Bitwise Complement Operator in Java

The bitwise complement of 5 is 246 and The 2’s complement of 246 is -6. Hence, the output is -6 instead of 246.

bitwise complement of N = ~N (represented in 2’s complement form)
2’complement of ~N = -(~(~N)+1) = -(N+1).

For Example: The 2’s complement of a number is equal to the complement of that number + 1 .

Bitwise complement

2’s Complement

Illustration: Here is a Java program demonstrating all bitwise operators.

Java

// Java program to illustrate // bitwise operators public class Geeks {     public static void main(String[] args)     {         // Initial values         int a = 5;         int b = 7;          // bitwise and         // 0101 & 0111=0101 = 5         System.out.println("a&b = " + (a & b));          // bitwise or         // 0101 | 0111=0111 = 7         System.out.println("a|b = " + (a | b));          // bitwise xor         // 0101 ^ 0111=0010 = 2         System.out.println("a^b = " + (a ^ b));          // bitwise not         // ~00000000 00000000 00000000 00000101=11111111 11111111 11111111 11111010         // will give 2's complement (32 bit) of 5 = -6         System.out.println("~a = " + ~a);          // can also be combined with         // assignment operator to provide shorthand         // assignment         // a=a&b         a &= b;         System.out.println("a= " + a);     } }

Output

a&b = 5 a|b = 7 a^b = 2 ~a = -6 a= 5

Bitwise Operators with Binary Output

Example: Here is the Java program that shows the bitwise operations using binary strings.

Java

// Demonstrating the bitwise logical operators class Geeks {     public static void main (String[] args) {                String binary[]={           "0000","0001","0010","0011","0100","0101",           "0110","0111","1000","1001","1010",           "1011","1100","1101","1110","1111"         };              // initializing the values of a and b        int a=3; // 0+2+1 or 0011 in binary       int b=6; // 4+2+0 or 0110 in binary              // bitwise or       int c= a | b;              // bitwise and       int d= a & b;              // bitwise xor       int e= a ^ b;              // bitwise not       int f= (~a & b)|(a &~b);       int g= ~a & 0x0f;                     System.out.println(" a= "+binary[a]);       System.out.println(" b= "+binary[b]);       System.out.println(" a|b= "+binary[c]);       System.out.println(" a&b= "+binary[d]);       System.out.println(" a^b= "+binary[e]);       System.out.println("~a & b|a&~b= "+binary[f]);       System.out.println("~a= "+binary[g]);     } }

Output

 a= 0011  b= 0110  a|b= 0111  a&b= 0010  a^b= 0101 ~a & b|a&~b= 0101 ~a= 1100

Bit-Shift Operators (Shift Operators)

Shift 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.

Syntax:

number shift_op number_of_places_to_shift;

Types of Shift Operators

Shift Operators are further divided into 3 types. These are:

Signed Right shift operator (>>)
Unsigned Right shift operator (>>>)
Left shift operator(<<)

Note: For more detail about the Shift Operators in Java, refer Shift Operator in Java.

Program to Implement all Bitwise Operators in Java for User Input

Java

import java.util.Scanner;  public class Geeks {     public static void main(String[] args) {         Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);          System.out.print("Enter first number: ");         int num1 = input.nextInt();          System.out.print("Enter second number: ");         int num2 = input.nextInt();          System.out.println("Bitwise AND: " + (num1 & num2));         System.out.println("Bitwise OR: " + (num1 | num2));         System.out.println("Bitwise XOR: " + (num1 ^ num2));         System.out.println("Bitwise NOT: " + (~num1));         System.out.println("Bitwise Left Shift: " + (num1 << 2));         System.out.println("Bitwise Right Shift: " + (num1 >> 2));         System.out.println("Bitwise Unsigned Right Shift: " + (num1 >>> 2));          input.close();     } }

Input:

Enter first number: 4
Enter second number: 8

Output:

Bitwise AND: 0
Bitwise OR: 12
Bitwise XOR: 12
Bitwise NOT: -5
Bitwise Left Shift: 16
Bitwise Right Shift: 1
Bitwise Unsigned Right Shift: 1

Explanation:

This program prompts the user to enter two numbers, num1 and num2. It then performs the following bitwise operations using the &, |, ^, ~, <<, >>, and >>> operators:

Bitwise AND
Bitwise OR
Bitwise XOR
Bitwise NOT
Bitwise Left Shift
Bitwise Right Shift
Bitwise Zero Fill Right Shift

Advantages

The advantages of using Bitwise Operators in Java are:

Bitwise operations are much faster than arithmetic operations as they operate directly on binary representations of numbers.
Bitwise operations can be used to store multiple values in a single variable, which can be useful when working with limited memory.
Bitwise operators allow for precise control over individual bits of a number, which can be useful in various applications such as cryptography, error detection, and compression.
Bitwise operations can simplify the code by reducing the number of conditional statements and loops required to perform certain tasks.

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