Ruby Bitwise Operators

An operator is bitwise when instead of treating integers as whole numbers, it treats them as a sequence of bits.

This is hugely used to apply a mask to an integer. For example, to verify the answers of an MCQ test.

So let’s have a look at how the bitwise operators work in Ruby.

Base 10 to Base 2

The base 10 is the common base that we use every day.

The base 2 is the base used by your computer to make operations? This base works with 2 values that are 0 and 1.

Each bit has a weight that is a multiple of 2. Each value is assigned from the right to the left.

• the first bit (from the right) has a value of 1
• the second one has a value of 2
• the third one has a value of 4
• etc.

If the bit is 1 then the value attached to this bit is counted to retrieve the number.

Let’s have a look at the following example to see how to convert a number in base 2.

Here, we convert the number 34 in base 2

128 64 32 16  8 4 2 1
 |   |  |  |  | | | |
 0   0  1  0  0 0 1 0

So, to convert a number in base 2 we move from the left to the right and we apply the following rule:

• Does 128 is included in 34? No
• Does 64 is included in 34? No
• Does 32 is included in 34? Yes: 34 — 32 = 2
• Does 16 is included in 2? No
• Does 8 is included in 2? No
• Does 4 is included in 2? No
• Does 2 is included in 2? Yes: 2 — 2 = 0

So the bits attached to 32 and 2 will be set to 1.

Base 2

As we’ve seen in the introduction, a bitwise operator treats integers as a sequence of bits — In base 2 instead of base 10.

So, how to see an integer as a sequence of bits?

$> 4.to_s(2)
 => "100"

The Integer#to_s(base = 10) can take an argument that is the base where the Integer will be returned. By default, it’s the base 10 — the common base.

The to_s(2) doesn’t return the ahead zeros. It’ll return a String that contains the sequence of bits that starts with the first 1 encountered from the left to the right.

Bitwise AND (&)

The Bitwise AND operator applies a & operation on each bit of the sequence.

So let’s detail the following operation 7 & 5

7 in Base 2: 0000 0111
5 in Base 2: 0000 0101
  128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
 ---------------------- 
7: 0  0  0  0  0 1 1 1
   &  &  &  &  & & & &
5: 0  0  0  0  0 1 0 1
-----------------------
5: 0  0  0  0  0 1 0 1

So the result of the operation 7 & 5 is 5.

Let’s make this operation in Ruby

$> 7 & 5
 => 5
$> (7 & 5).to_s(2)
 => "101"

Bitwise OR

The Bitwise OR operator applies a | operation on each bit of the sequence

So let’s detail the following operation 7 | 5

7 in Base 2: 0000 0111
5 in Base 2: 0000 0101
  128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
 ---------------------- 
7: 0  0  0  0  0 1 1 1
   |  |  |  |  | | | |
5: 0  0  0  0  0 1 0 1
 ----------------------
7: 0  0  0  0  0 1 1 1

So the result of the operation 7 | 5 is 7.

Let’s make this operation in Ruby

$> 7 | 5
 => 7
$> (7 | 5).to_s(2)
 => "111"

Bitwise LEFT SHIFT

The LEFT SHIFT operator << shifts each bit of a number to the left by n positions.

So let’s detail the following operation 7 << 2

7 in Base 2: 0000 0111
   128 64 32 16  8 4 2 1
   ---------------------- 
7:  0  0  0  0   0 1 1 1
shift each bit to the left by 2 positions
   ----------------------
28: 0  0  0  1   1 1 0 0

So the result of the operation 7 << 2 is 28.

Let’s make this operation in Ruby

$> 7 << 2
 => 28
$> (7 << 2).to_s(2)
 => "11100"

Bitwise RIGHT SHIFT

The RIGHT SHIFT operator >> shifts each bit of a number to the right by n positions.

So let’s detail the following operation 40 >> 2

40 in Base 2: 0010 1000
   128 64 32 16  8 4 2 1
   ---------------------- 
40: 0  0  1  0   1 0 0 0
shift each bit to the right by 2 positions
   ----------------------
10: 0  0  0  0   1 0 1 0

So the result of the operation 40 >> 2is 10.

Let’s make this operation in Ruby

$> 40 >> 2
 => 10
$> (40 >> 2).to_s(2)
 => "1010"

Conclusion

Bitwise operators are not commonly used in Rails but can be pretty handy when we have a “multiple choices” feature such as MCQ test, configs, options, etc.

Note that there are 2 other bitwise operators that we didn’t cover in this article: the bitwise exclusive or and the bitwise not operators. I’ll probably cover them in another article.

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