Difference between >>> and >>

Question

What is the difference between >>> and >> operators in Java?

Answer 1

The right shift logical operator (>>> N) shifts bits to the right by N positions, discarding the sign bit and padding the N left-most bits with 0's. For example:

-1 (in 32-bit): 11111111111111111111111111111111

after a >>> 1 operation becomes:

2147483647: 01111111111111111111111111111111

The right shift arithmetic operator (>> N) also shifts bits to the right by N positions, but preserves the sign bit and pads the N left-most bits with 1's. For example:

-2 (in 32-bit): 11111111111111111111111111111110

after a >> 1 operation becomes:

-1: 11111111111111111111111111111111