BitsBit Manipulation

Set, Clear, Toggle, Test a Bit

The four single-bit primitives: set with OR, clear with AND-NOT, toggle with XOR, test with AND on a shifted 1.

n | k — Integer 0..255, then a pipe, then the bit index 0..7 — e.g. "44 | 1"

= 44

1/7n = 44 (00101100). We want to manipulate bit k=1, which currently is 0.

Bit kBit set to 1Bit cleared to 0

1mask = 1 << k
2set    = n | mask
3clear  = n & ~mask
4toggle = n ^ mask
5test   = (n >> k) & 1

Variables

n44

Complexity

best O(1)

avg O(1)

worst O(1)

space O(1)

Speed