What is mean 'return a|b|c' in the non void java function?

Question

I'm new at java, and I'm a little confused by the functions '|' in non void java functions return

private int donUnderstand() {
    return 1 | 2 | 3 | 4; //return 7, where is 7 come from?
}

Function above will return 7, but I don't get it where is 7 come from. I need some explanation. What is '|' character really mean at that function?

It's "bitwise OR" https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14295469/what-does-mean-pipe-equal-operator — jcsahnwaldt Reinstate Monica, Aug 27 '19 at 09:09
I really hope this is not a method found in a real application... — AxelH, Aug 27 '19 at 09:50

pappbence96 · Answer 1 · 2019-08-27T09:08:58.163

6

| is the bitwise OR operator in Java. In your example, it ORs together 1, 2, 3 and 4. Their binary representation is 0001, 0010, 0011 and 0100, respectively. This results in 0111, which is the binary representation of 7.

1 == 0001
2 == 0010
3 == 0011
4 == 0100
----------- OR
7 == 0111

edited Aug 27 '19 at 09:08

answered Aug 27 '19 at 09:06

pappbence96

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no worries, I don't gain anything from it either way, just thought it would make more sense like this – a_local_nobody Aug 27 '19 at 09:08
Thanks for the help though, tried to reapply your edits and make it work with mine – pappbence96 Aug 27 '19 at 09:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 27 '19 at 09:08

| is the bitwise OR operator. That is it would do an OR operation on each bit of the numbers and return the result. For example:

a = 5 = 0101 (In Binary)

b = 7 = 0111 (In Binary)

Bitwise OR Operation of 5 and 7

 0101

| 0111
 ________
  0111  = 7 (In decimal)

More info here: Bitwise OR

What is mean 'return a|b|c' in the non void java function?

2 Answers2