Bitwise Operators

D provides the following binary operators for manipulating individual bits inside of integer operands. These operators all have the same meaning as in ANSI-C.

Table 2-9 D Bitwise Operators

The binary & operator is used to clear bits from an integer operand. The binary | operator is used to set bits in an integer operand. The binary ^ operator returns one in each bit position where exactly one of the corresponding operand bits is set.

The shift operators are used to move bits left or right in a given integer operand. Shifting left fills empty bit positions on the right-hand side of the result with zeroes. Shifting right using an unsigned integer operand fills empty bit positions on the left-hand side of the result with zeroes. Shifting right using a signed integer operand fills empty bit positions on the left-hand side with the value of the sign bit, also known as an arithmetic shift operation.

Shifting an integer value by a negative number of bits or by a number of bits larger than the number of bits in the left-hand operand itself produces an undefined result. The D compiler will produce an error message if the compiler can detect this condition when you compile your D program.

In addition to the binary logical operators, the unary ~ operator may be used to perform a bitwise negation of a single operand: it converts each zero bit in the operand into a one bit, and each one bit in the operand into a zero bit.