Golang XOR: A Bitwise Operator

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In Go, the ^ symbol represents the bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) operator. The XOR(^) operator in Golang compares the corresponding bits of two numbers and returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 if and only if exactly one of the corresponding bits in the operands is 1.

The bitwise operators take both signed and unsigned integers as input. However, a shift operator’s right-hand side must be an unsigned integer.

The ^ operator in Go performs OR operations between two integer numbers provided as an operand.

The bitwise OR operation has the following characteristics.

A Bitwise Operator

In the above table, the output is 1 only when both the input values differ.

If both input values are the same, it will result in 0 when XORed. The XOR operator has many interesting uses in computing.

The XOR is used to toggle values, such as changing values from 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 in a sequence of bits. 

Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both. So, for example, (A ^ B) will give 49, which is 0011 0001.

Example

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
  a := 19
  b := 21
  c := a ^ b
  fmt.Printf("The Value of c is %d\n", c)
}

Output

The Value of c is 6

In the example above, the variable c will contain the value 6 (110 in binary) because only the leftmost and rightmost bits differ between a and b. All other bits are the same, resulting in a 0 bit.

The XOR operator can be used for many purposes, such as flipping individual bits, comparing two numbers to see which bits are different, and generating random numbers.

FAQ

What is the Golang XOR operator?

The Golang XOR operator is a bitwise operator that compares the corresponding bits of two numbers and returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 if and only if exactly one of the corresponding bits in the operands is 1.

What does the Golang XOR operator do?

The Golang XOR operator compares the corresponding bits of two numbers and returns a new number where each bit is set to 1 if and only if exactly one of the corresponding bits in the operands is 1.

How is the Golang XOR operator used in programming?

The Golang XOR operator is commonly used in programming for tasks such as flipping individual bits, comparing two numbers to see which bits are different, and generating random numbers.

What is an example of using the Golang XOR operator?

An example of using the Golang XOR operator is:

a := 5 // 101 in binary

b := 3 // 011 in binary

c := a ^ b // 110 in binary

In this example, the variable c will contain the value 6 (110 in binary) because only the leftmost and rightmost bits differ between a and b.

Are there any other bitwise operators in Golang?

Yes, Golang has several other bitwise operators, including AND (&), OR (|), left shift (<<), and right shift (>>).

Conclusion

XOR operator can be used to toggle bits from one value to another.

Golang does not provide a logical exclusive-OR operator (i.e., XOR over booleans), and the bitwise XOR operator applies only to integers.

However, an exclusive OR can be rewritten for other logical operators.

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