C++ Bitwise XOR Operator

The C++, the bitwise XOR operator is represented by the caret symbol ^. It is used to perform bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) operations on individual bits of two integers. The XOR operation returns 1 if the corresponding bits of the two operands are different, and it returns 0 if they are the same.

Here’s the basic syntax of the bitwise XOR operator:

result = operand1 ^ operand2;

Here’s how it works with two binary numbers:

   1010  (operand1)
^  1100  (operand2)
---------
   0110  (result)

In this example, the bitwise XOR operation is performed on each pair of corresponding bits. If the bits are different, the result is 1; otherwise, it’s 0.

Here’s a simple C++ code example illustrating the use of the bitwise XOR operator:

#include <iostream>

int main() {
    int num1 = 10;   // binary: 1010
    int num2 = 12;   // binary: 1100

    int result = num1 ^ num2;

    std::cout << "num1 ^ num2 = " << result << std::endl; // Output: 6 (binary: 0110)

    return 0;
}

In this code, num1 ^ num2 performs a bitwise XOR operation on num1 and num2, and the result is stored in the result variable. The output demonstrates that the XOR operation yields the result 6, which corresponds to the binary 0110.