What does a bitwise shift (left or right) do and what is it used for?

Question

I\'ve seen the operators >> and << in various code that I\'ve looked at (none of which I actually understood), but I\'m just wondering

Answer 1

Left shift: It is equal to the product of the value which has to be shifted and 2 raised to the power of number of bits to be shifted.

Example:

1 << 3
0000 0001  ---> 1
Shift by 1 bit
0000 0010 ----> 2 which is equal to 1*2^1
Shift By 2 bits
0000 0100 ----> 4 which is equal to 1*2^2
Shift by 3 bits
0000 1000 ----> 8 which is equal to 1*2^3

Right shift: It is equal to quotient of value which has to be shifted by 2 raised to the power of number of bits to be shifted.

Example:

8 >> 3
0000 1000  ---> 8 which is equal to 8/2^0
Shift by 1 bit
0000 0100 ----> 4 which is equal to 8/2^1
Shift By 2 bits
0000 0010 ----> 2 which is equal to 8/2^2
Shift by 3 bits
0000 0001 ----> 1 which is equal to 8/2^3