Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference > ActionScript language elements > Operators > | bitwise OR operator

| bitwise OR operator

expression1 | expression2

Converts expression1 and expression2 to 32-bit unsigned integers, and returns a 1 in each bit position where the corresponding bits of either expression1 or expression2 are 1. Floating-point numbers are converted to integers by discarding any digits after the decimal point. The result is a new 32-bit integer.

Positive integers are converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF; values larger than the maximum have their most significant digits discarded when they are converted so the value is still 32-bit. Negative numbers are converted to an unsigned hexadecimal value via the two's complement notation, with the minimum being -2147483648 or 0x800000000; numbers less than the minimum are converted to two's complement with greater precision and also have the most significant digits discarded.

The return value is interpreted as a two's complement number with sign, so the return value will be an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 5

Operands

expression1 : Number - A number.

expression2 : Number - A number.

Returns

Number - The result of the bitwise operation.

Example

The following is an example of a bitwise OR (|) operation:

// 15 decimal = 1111 binary 
var x:Number = 15; 
// 9 decimal = 1001 binary 
var y:Number = 9; 
// 1111 | 1001 = 1111 
trace(x | y); // returns 15 decimal (1111 binary) 

Don't confuse the single | (bitwise OR) with || (logical OR).

See also

& bitwise AND operator, &= bitwise AND assignment operator, ^ bitwise XOR operator, ^= bitwise XOR assignment operator, |= bitwise OR assignment operator, ~ bitwise NOT operator

Flash CS3