What does the "|" (single pipe) do in JavaScript?
JavascriptJavascript Problem Overview
console.log(0.5 | 0); // 0
console.log(-1 | 0); // -1
console.log(1 | 0); // 1
Why does 0.5 | 0 return zero, but any integer (including negative) returns the input integer? What does the single pipe ("|") do?
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
This is a bitwise or.
Since bitwise operations only make sense on integers, 0.5 is truncated.
x | 0 is x, if x is an integer.
Solution 2 - Javascript
Bit comparison is so simple it's almost incomprehensible ;) Check out this "nybble"
8 4 2 1
-------
0 1 1 0 = 6 (4 + 2)
1 0 1 0 = 10 (8 + 2)
=======
1 1 1 0 = 14 (8 + 4 + 2)
Bitwise ORing 6 and 10 will give you 14:
alert(6 | 10); // should show 14
Terribly confusing!
Solution 3 - Javascript
A single pipe is a bit-wise OR.
> Performs the OR operation on each pair > of bits. a OR b yields 1 if either a > or b is 1.
JavaScript truncates any non-integer numbers in bitwise operations, so its computed as 0|0, which is 0.
Solution 4 - Javascript
This example will help you.
var testPipe = function(input) {
console.log('input => ' + input);
console.log('single pipe | => ' + (input | 'fallback'));
console.log('double pipe || => ' + (input || 'fallback'));
console.log('-------------------------');
};
testPipe();
testPipe('something');
testPipe(50);
testPipe(0);
testPipe(-1);
testPipe(true);
testPipe(false);
Solution 5 - Javascript
This is a Bitwsie OR (|).
The operands are converted to 32-bit integers and expressed by a series of bits (zeroes and ones). Numbers with more than 32 bits get their most significant bits discarded.
So, in our case decimal number is converted to interger 0.5 to 0.
= 0.5 | 0
= 0 | 0
= 0