What does bitwise OR (|) do?

What does bitwise OR (|) do?

• A. Performs OR operations on corresponding bits.
• B. Performs AND operations on corresponding bits.
• C. Performs NOT operations on all bits.
• D. Shifts bits to the left.

Answer: (A)

Bitwise OR processes each bit individually, producing a 1 in each position where either input bit is 1. In other words, it combines the ones from both numbers: if either bit is 1, the result’s bit is 1; if both are 0, it’s 0. For example, 5 (0101) OR 3 (0011) gives 7 (0111). This operation has no carries or cross-position effects like addition, and it’s commonly used to turn on specific bits in a bitmask, such as result = flags | FLAG_A to ensure FLAG_A is set. It’s different from AND (which requires both bits to be 1), NOT (which flips bits), and shifting (which moves bits left or right).

Bitwise OR processes each bit individually, producing a 1 in each position where either input bit is 1. In other words, it combines the ones from both numbers: if either bit is 1, the result’s bit is 1; if both are 0, it’s 0. For example, 5 (0101) OR 3 (0011) gives 7 (0111). This operation has no carries or cross-position effects like addition, and it’s commonly used to turn on specific bits in a bitmask, such as result = flags | FLAG_A to ensure FLAG_A is set. It’s different from AND (which requires both bits to be 1), NOT (which flips bits), and shifting (which moves bits left or right).