Right shift operators in java

Right shift operators in java

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In Java, the right shift operator is denoted by the symbol >>. It shifts the bits of the binary representation of a number to the right and fills any vacant positions on the left with zeros. This operation effectively divides the original number by 2 raised to the power of the number of places shifted.

Here's an example:

Suppose we have an integer variable x initialized to 16, which is equal to 10000 in binary:

int x = 16;
System.out.println(Integer.toBinaryString(x)); // Output: 10000

If we shift x right by 4 places (i.e., x >> 4), the result would be 1, which is equal to 00001 in binary:

int y = x >> 4;
System.out.println(Integer.toBinaryString(y)); // Output: 00001

Notice that we've effectively divided 16 by 2 raised to the power of 4 (i.e., 2^4 or 16), which results in 1.

In general, the right shift operator is used for several purposes:

On the other hand, left shift operators (<<) work by shifting the bits of a binary representation to the left and filling any vacant positions on the right with zeros. This operation effectively multiplies the original number by 2 raised to the power of the number of places shifted.

Here's an example:

Suppose we have an integer variable x initialized to 1:

int x = 1;
System.out.println(Integer.toBinaryString(x)); // Output: 00001

If we shift x left by 3 places (i.e., x << 3), the result would be 8, which is equal to 1000 in binary:

int y = x << 3;
System.out.println(Integer.toBinaryString(y)); // Output: 10000

Notice that we've effectively multiplied 1 by 2 raised to the power of 3 (i.e., 2^3 or 8), which results in 8.

In general, left shift operators are used for:

In summary, right shift operators are useful for dividing or scaling integers, while left shift operators are used for multiplying or adding low-order bits.

What is a shift operator in Java?

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In Java, a shift operator is a type of unary operator that performs bitwise operations on the value of an integer or long variable. The purpose of shift operators is to shift the bits of a number to the left (left-shift) or right (right-shift), effectively multiplying or dividing the original value by a power of 2.

There are two types of shift operators in Java: left shift (<<) and right shift (>>).

Left Shift (<<)

The left shift operator performs a logical left shift operation on the value of an integer or long variable. This means that each bit in the original number is shifted one position to the left, and the vacated positions are filled with zeros. The effect of this operation is equivalent to multiplying the original value by 2.

Here's an example:

int x = 5; // binary representation: 00000101
x <<= 1; // x becomes 10 (binary representation: 00001010)

As you can see, shifting x one position to the left effectively doubles its value.

Right Shift (>>)

The right shift operator performs a logical right shift operation on the value of an integer or long variable. This means that each bit in the original number is shifted one position to the right, and the vacated positions are filled with zeros (in the case of signed integers) or ones (in the case of unsigned integers). The effect of this operation is equivalent to dividing the original value by 2.

Here's an example:

int x = 10; // binary representation: 00001010
x >>= 1; // x becomes 5 (binary representation: 00000101)

As you can see, shifting x one position to the right effectively divides its value by 2.

Sign Extension

When performing a right shift operation on a signed integer (such as an int or long), Java performs sign extension. This means that if the original number is negative, the vacated positions are filled with ones, making the result also negative. If the original number is positive, the vacated positions are filled with zeros, making the result also positive.

For example:

int x = -10; // binary representation: 11110110 (signed)
x >>= 1; // x becomes -5 (binary representation: 11111011)

As you can see, the sign of x is preserved during the shift operation.

Unsigned Right Shift

When performing a right shift operation on an unsigned integer type (such as long), Java performs unsigned right shift. This means that the vacated positions are filled with zeros, regardless of whether the original number was positive or negative.

For example:

long x = 10; // binary representation: 00000000010001 (unsigned)
x >>= 1; // x becomes 5 (binary representation: 00000000001000)

As you can see, the sign of x is not preserved during the shift operation.

In summary, Java's shift operators are used to perform bitwise operations on integer and long values. The left shift operator multiplies the value by 2, while the right shift operator divides the value by 2. Sign extension occurs when shifting signed integers, and unsigned right shift occurs when shifting unsigned integers.