What does the ^ operator do in Java?

Question

What function does the ^ (caret) operator serve in Java?

When I try this:

int a = 5^n;

...it gives me:

Answer 1

It is the bitwise xor operator in java which results 1 for different value (ie 1 ^ 0 = 1) and 0 for same value (ie 0 ^ 0 = 0).

Answer 2

It is the XOR bitwise operator.

Answer 3

As already stated by the other answer(s), it's the "exclusive or" (XOR) operator. For more information on bit-operators in Java, see: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/op3.html

Answer 4

As many people have already pointed out, it's the XOR operator. Many people have also already pointed out that if you want exponentiation then you need to use Math.pow.

But I think it's also useful to note that ^ is just one of a family of operators that are collectively known as bitwise operators:

Operator    Name         Example     Result  Description
a & b       and          3 & 5       1       1 if both bits are 1.
a | b       or           3 | 5       7       1 if either bit is 1.
a ^ b       xor          3 ^ 5       6       1 if both bits are different.
~a          not          ~3          -4      Inverts the bits.
n << p      left shift   3 << 2      12      Shifts the bits of n left p positions. Zero bits are shifted into the low-order positions.
n >> p      right shift  5 >> 2      1       Shifts the bits of n right p positions. If n is a 2's complement signed number, the sign bit is shifted into the high-order positions.
n >>> p     right shift  -4 >>> 28   15      Shifts the bits of n right p positions. Zeros are shifted into the high-order positions.

From here.

These operators can come in handy when you need to read and write to integers where the individual bits should be interpreted as flags, or when a specific range of bits in an integer have a special meaning and you want to extract only those. You can do a lot of every day programming without ever needing to use these operators, but if you ever have to work with data at the bit level, a good knowledge of these operators is invaluable.

Answer 5

^ is binary (as in base-2) xor, not exponentiation (which is not available as a Java operator). For exponentiation, see java.lang.Math.pow().