All about Bit Manipulation

Difficulty Level : Easy
Last Updated : 24 Apr, 2022

Bit Manipulation is a technique used in a variety of problems to get the solution in an optimized way. This technique is very effective from a Competitive Programming point of view. It is all about Bitwise Operators which directly works upon binary numbers or bits of numbers that help the implementation fast. Below are the Bitwise Operators that are used:

Bitwise AND (&)
Bitwise OR (|)
Bitwise XOR (^)
Bitwise NOT (!)

Learn more about Bitwise Operators in this article.

Below are some common bit operations that are frequently used in programming:

Bitwise Operations:

Below is the table to illustrate the result when the operation is performed using Bitwise Operators. Here 0s or 1s mean a sequence of 0 or 1 respectively.

Operators	Operations	Result
XOR	X ^ 0s	X
XOR	X ^ 1s	~X
XOR	X ^ X	0
AND	X & 0s	0
AND	X & 1s	X
AND	X & X	X
OR	X \| 0s	X
OR	X \| 1s	1s
OR	X \| X	X

Get Bit:

This method is used to find the bit at a particular position(say i) of the given number N. The idea is to find the Bitwise AND of the given number and 2ⁱ that can be represented as (1 << i). If the value return is 1 then the bit at the i^th position is set. Otherwise, it is unset.

Below is the pseudo-code for the same:

C++

// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
boolean getBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Return true if the bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}

Java

// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
static boolean getBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Return true if the bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}
 
// This code is contributed by rishavmahato348.

Python3

# Function to get the bit at the
# ith position
def getBit(num, i):
   
    # Return true if the bit is
    # set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0)
     
# This code is contributed by shivani

C#

// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
static bool getBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Return true if the bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}
 
// This code is contributed by subhammahato348.

Javascript

<script>
 
// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
function getBit(num, i)
{
     
    // Return true if the bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}
 
// This code is contributed by Ankita saini
 
</script>

Set Bit:

This method is used to set the bit at a particular position(say i) of the given number N. The idea is to update the value of the given number N to the Bitwise OR of the given number N and 2ⁱ that can be represented as (1 << i). If the value return is 1 then the bit at the i^th position is set. Otherwise, it is unset.

Below is the pseudo-code for the same:

C++

// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
int setBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}

Java

// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
static int setBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}
 
// This code is contributed by subhammahato348

Python3

# Function to set the ith bit of the
# given number num
def setBit(num, i):
     
    # Sets the ith bit and return
    # the updated value
    return num | (1 << i)
 
# This code is contributed by kirti

C#

// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
static int setBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}

Javascript

// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
function setBit(num, i)
{
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}

Clear Bit:

This method is used to clear the bit at a particular position(say i) of the given number N. The idea is to update the value of the given number N to the Bitwise AND of the given number N and the compliment of 2ⁱ that can be represented as ~(1 << i). If the value return is 1 then the bit at the i^th position is set. Otherwise, it is unset.

Below is the pseudo-code for the same:

C++

// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
int clearBit(int num, int i)
{
 
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    int mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}

Java

// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
static int clearBit(int num, int i)
{
 
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    int mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}
 
// This code is contributed by subham348

Python3

# Function to clear the ith bit of
# the given number N
 
def clearBit(num, i):
 
    # Create the mask for the ith
    # bit unset
    mask = ~(1 << i)
 
    # Return the update value
    return num & mask
 
# This code is contributed by subhammahato348

C#

// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
static int clearBit(int num, int i)
{
 
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    int mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}
 
// This code is contributed by Ankita Saini

Javascript

// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
function clearBit(num, i)
{
 
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    let mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}
 
// This code is contributed by souravmahato348.

Below is the program that implements the above functionalities:

C++

// C++ program to implement all the
// above functionalities
 
#include "bits/stdc++.h"
using namespace std;
 
// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
bool getBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Return true if the ith bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}
 
// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
int setBit(int num, int i)
{
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}
 
// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
int clearBit(int num, int i)
{
 
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    int mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    // Given number N
    int N = 70;
 
    cout << "The bit at the 3rd position from LSB is: "
         << (getBit(N, 3) ? '1' : '0')
         << endl;
 
    cout << "The value of the given number "
         << "after setting the bit at "
         << "LSB is: "
         << setBit(N, 0) << endl;
 
    cout << "The value of the given number "
         << "after clearing the bit at "
         << "LSB is: "
         << clearBit(N, 0) << endl;
 
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java program to implement all the
// above functionalities
import java.io.*;
 
class GFG{
 
// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
static boolean getBit(int num, int i)
{
     
    // Return true if the ith bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}
 
// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
static int setBit(int num, int i)
{
     
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}
 
// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
static int clearBit(int num, int i)
{
     
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    int mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}
 
// Driver Code
public static void main(String[] args)
{
     
    // Given number N
    int N = 70;
 
    System.out.println("The bit at the 3rd position from LSB is: " +
                       (getBit(N, 3) ? '1' : '0'));
 
    System.out.println("The value of the given number " +
                       "after setting the bit at " +
                       "LSB is: " + setBit(N, 0));
 
    System.out.println("The value of the given number " +
                       "after clearing the bit at " +
                       "LSB is: " + clearBit(N, 0));
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by souravmahato348

Python

# Python program to implement all the
# above functionalities
# Function to get the bit at the
# ith position
def getBit( num,  i):
 
    # Return true if the ith bit is
    # set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0)
 
# Function to set the ith bit of the
# given number num
def setBit( num,  i):
 
    # Sets the ith bit and return
    # the updated value
    return num | (1 << i)
 
# Function to clear the ith bit of
# the given number N
def clearBit( num,  i):
     
    # Create the mask for the ith
    # bit unset
    mask = ~(1 << i)
     
    # Return the update value
    return num & mask
 
# Driver Code
# Given number N
N = 70
print"The bit at the 3rd position from LSB is: " , 1 if (getBit(N, 3)) else '0'
 
print"The value of the given number" , "after setting the bit at","LSB is: " , setBit(N, 0)
 
print"The value of the given number" , "after clearing the bit at","LSB is: " , clearBit(N, 0)
 
# This code is contributed by shivanisinghss2110

C#

// C# program to implement all the
// above functionalities
using System;
 
class GFG {
 
    // Function to get the bit at the
    // ith position
    static bool getBit(int num, int i)
    {
 
        // Return true if the ith bit is
        // set. Otherwise return false
        return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
    }
 
    // Function to set the ith bit of the
    // given number num
    static int setBit(int num, int i)
    {
 
        // Sets the ith bit and return
        // the updated value
        return num | (1 << i);
    }
 
    // Function to clear the ith bit of
    // the given number N
    static int clearBit(int num, int i)
    {
 
        // Create the mask for the ith
        // bit unset
        int mask = ~(1 << i);
 
        // Return the update value
        return num & mask;
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void Main()
    {
 
        // Given number N
        int N = 70;
 
        Console.WriteLine("The bit at the 3rd position form LSB is: "
                          + (getBit(N, 3) ? '1' : '0'));
 
        Console.WriteLine("The value of the given number "
                          + "after setting the bit at "
                          + "LSB is: " + setBit(N, 0));
 
        Console.WriteLine("The value of the given number "
                          + "after clearing the bit at "
                          + "LSB is: " + clearBit(N, 0));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by rishavmahato348.

Javascript

<script>
 
// Javascript program to implement all
// the above functionalities
 
// Function to get the bit at the
// ith position
function getBit(num, i)
{
     
    // Return true if the ith bit is
    // set. Otherwise return false
    return ((num & (1 << i)) != 0);
}
 
// Function to set the ith bit of the
// given number num
function setBit(num, i)
{
     
    // Sets the ith bit and return
    // the updated value
    return num | (1 << i);
}
 
// Function to clear the ith bit of
// the given number N
function clearBit(num, i)
{
 
    // Create the mask for the ith
    // bit unset
    let mask = ~(1 << i);
 
    // Return the update value
    return num & mask;
}
 
// Driver code
 
// Given number N
let N = 70;
 
document.write("The bit at the 3rd position from LSB is: " +
              (getBit(N, 3) ? '1' : '0') + "</br>");
 
document.write("The value of the given number " +
               "after setting the bit at " +
               "LSB is: " + setBit(N, 0) + "</br>");
 
document.write("The value of the given number " +
               "after clearing the bit at " +
               "LSB is: " + clearBit(N, 0) + "</br>");
                
// This code is contributed by divyeshrabadiya07
 
</script>

Output:

The bit at the 3rd position is: 0
The value of the given number  after setting the bit at  MSB is: 71
The value of the given number  after clearing the bit at  MSB is: 70

My Personal Notes

Related Articles

Table of Contents

All about Bit Manipulation

Bitwise Operations:

Get Bit:

C++

Java

Python3

C#

Javascript

Set Bit:

C++

Java

Python3

C#

Javascript

Clear Bit:

C++

Java

Python3

C#

Javascript

C++

Java

Python

C#

Javascript

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