Punuptech

The right and left shift operators are useful in eliminating bits from the number.

Right Shift Operator(>>)

It needs two operands. It shifts each bit in its left operand to the right.The number of places the bits are shifted depends on the right operand.

Syntax:

<decimal> >> <no. the bits to be shifted>

Example

7 >> 2

it means, in decimal number 7, 2 bits are shifted right.

Binary equivalent -       0000000000000111

7>>2 gives               0000000000000001

Example:

• If operand is multiple of 2,then shifting the operand one bit to the right is same as dividing it by 2 and ignoring the remainder.

Example

64 >> 1 gives 32

32>> 2 gives 8

27>>1 gives 13

47 >> 1 gives 23

• In a>>b, if b is negative,the result is unpredictable. If a is negative then its left most bit would be 1.

Example

-1 >> 2

-1 (binary)   1111111111111111

-1 >> 2 0011111111111111

Left Shift Operator( << )

The only difference is that the  bits are shifted to left,a 0(zero) is added to the right of the number.

Example

7 << 2

7 -> 0000 0000 0000 0111

7<<2 ->  0000 0000 0001 1100

written by Shweta