What Does the Go '&^' Operator Do, and How Does It Compare to C?

Understanding the "&^" Operator in Go

In Go, the "&^" operator performs a bitwise AND operation with its two operands, followed by a bitwise NOT operation on the result. In other words, it applies a bitmask to the first operand, clearing certain bits based on the corresponding bits in the second operand.

C Equivalent

In C, the equivalent of "&^" is the "x & ~y" expression. Here, "&" performs a bitwise AND operation, while "~" is the bitwise NOT operator.

Using "&^" to Clear Bits

Consider the Go expression "x &^ y". This expression first calculates "x & y," which performs a bitwise AND operation on each bit of "x" and "y." The result is a new bitmask where every bit that is set in "y" is cleared in "x."

For example:

x = 0b1101
y = 0b1011

x & y = 0b1001

The operation "~y" then negates each bit of "y," resulting in:

~y = 0b0100

Finally, the "&" operator is performed again, this time between "x & y" and "~y":

(x & y) & ~y = 0b1001 & 0b0100 = 0b1000

Applications of "&^"

The "&^" operator is used in various scenarios, including:

• Zeroing out specific bits in a register
• Applying masks to clear certain fields in a data structure
• Implementing boolean operations (e.g., "NOT" with a bitmask)

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