Why shift bits

Each bit within flags would represent the current state of one of the flags. You would then use bit manipulations to set and to get each flag. First, set up constants that indicate the various flags for your program. These flags should each be a different power of 2 to ensure that each bit is used by only one flag.

Define a variable, flags , whose bits would be set according to the current state of each flag. Flags are now also Editable. All rights reserved. Search Feedback Form. Logical Right-Shift A logical right-shift of one position moves each bit to the right and inserts a 0 0 0 at the other end.

Arithmetic Right-Shift An arithmetic right-shift of one position moves each bit to the right by one step. Keep Exploring. Related Courses. Learn in-demand tech skills in half the time. Early Access Courses. Assessments New. Free Trial New. For Business. For Educators. Become an Affiliate. The microcontroller doesn't care if you use decimal, hex, octal, or binary It's all converted to binary by the compiler It just makes it easier for you, the programmer.

I don't do it to multiply or divide by two, I do it when I want to bit-shift. Sometimes with lighting effects, I'm actually rotating bits i. If you right-shift, instead of throwing-away the right-most bit you save it and write it back into the left-most bit.

Using Arduino Programming Questions. As long as you don't do it at the dinner table, it does no harm.