How to set, clear, and toggle a single bit?

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To set, clear, and toggle a single bit in a variable, you can use bitwise operators in most programming languages. Bit manipulation can be useful in situations where you need to work with individual bits within a number or variable. Here's how to perform these operations with examples in Python:

1. Set a Bit:

To set a specific bit in a variable to 1, you can use the bitwise OR operator |. You'll OR the variable with a bitmask where the desired bit is 1, and all other bits are 0.

python
def set_bit(number, bit_position):
    return number | (1 << bit_position)

Example:

python
# Set the 2nd bit (0-based index) of the number to 1
number = 5  # Binary: 101
bit_position = 2
result = set_bit(number, bit_position)  # Result: 7 (Binary: 111)
print(result)

2. Clear a Bit:

To clear (set to 0) a specific bit in a variable, you can use the bitwise AND operator &. You'll AND the variable with a bitmask where the desired bit is 0, and all other bits are 1.

python
def clear_bit(number, bit_position):
    return number & ~(1 << bit_position)

Example:

python
# Clear the 1st bit (0-based index) of the number to 0
number = 7  # Binary: 111
bit_position = 1
result = clear_bit(number, bit_position)  # Result: 5 (Binary: 101)
print(result)

3. Toggle a Bit:

To toggle (invert) a specific bit in a variable, you can use the bitwise XOR operator ^. You'll XOR the variable with a bitmask where the desired bit is 1, and all other bits are 0.

python
def toggle_bit(number, bit_position):
    return number ^ (1 << bit_position)

Example:

python
# Toggle the 0th bit (0-based index) of the number
number = 6  # Binary: 110
bit_position = 0
result = toggle_bit(number, bit_position)  # Result: 7 (Binary: 111)
print(result)

These functions allow you to set, clear, and toggle individual bits within a variable. Remember that in most programming languages, bitwise operations work on integers, so you may need to convert your data to the appropriate integer format if you are working with other data types like bytes or strings.

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