What does >> mean in PHP?

Question

Consider:

echo 50 >> 4;

Output:

3

Why does it output 3?

Answer 1

>> is the binary right-shift operator.

Your statement shifts the bits in the numeric value 50 four places to the right. Because all integers are represented in two's complement, this equals 3. An easy way to remember this is that one shift to the right is the same as dividing by 2, and one shift to the left is the same as multiplying by 2.