How Can I Perform Bitwise Operations on Floating-Point Numbers in C/C ?

Bitwise Operations on Floating-Point Numbers Demystified

Performing bitwise operations on floating-point numbers is not directly supported in C/C . The reason lies in the fact that floating-point numbers do not have a defined bit-level representation in these languages.

The compiler error you encountered when attempting to perform a bitwise operation on a float variable stems from this fundamental limitation. Similarly, casting the float to an int results in the bitwise operation being applied to the integer representation of the rounded-off floating-point value.

The casting of int to void* is permitted because void pointers can point to any memory location, regardless of its type. However, this does not apply to floats, as they lack a standardized bit-wise representation.

It is essential to understand that bitwise operations are specifically designed to work on the value representation of numbers, not on the specific type of the variable. Floating-point numbers do not possess a defined value representation that can be manipulated using bitwise operators.

Therefore, if you need to analyze the bit content of a floating-point number, you can utilize a union or reinterpret the floating-point object as an array of unsigned char objects. This approach allows you to inspect the raw memory occupied by the floating-point value without manipulating it directly using bitwise operators.

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