| : Java Glossary

|

Performs a bit-wise logical or, usually on two ints. It can also be used on booleans in logical expressions, though normally you use ||. || is sometimes called short circuit | or McCarthy |. The expression a | b is true if either a or b is true or both are true. We call this the inclusive or or the lawyer’s and/or. In contrast the expression a ^ b is true if either a or b is true but not if both are true. We call this the exclusive or.

The | character is created by hitting shift-\. Sometimes it is displayed with a break, sometimes not. It can be hard to tell apart from Il1! in some fonts.

0b1110_0000 | 0b1000_0001 → 0b1110_0001

Logical OR is a logical carryless bitwise addition, 1s where either operand has a 1, otherwise 0.

0 | 0 → 0
0 | 1 → 1
1 | 0 → 1
1 | 1 → 1

Useful for combining bit masks. Don’t confuse this with ||. Given that you have a mask to describe the bit (all zeros, one one), to turn on a bit, use | mask.

Here is how to or together an array of booleans:

!
&
&&
binary
bit
boolean
||
~

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