In practice, the difference is in the location where the preprocessor searches for the included file.
For #include <filename> the preprocessor searches in an implementation dependent manner, normally in search directories pre-designated by the compiler/IDE. This method is normally used to include standard library header files.
For #include "filename" the preprocessor searches first in the same directory as the file containing the directive, and then follows the search path used for the #include <filename> form. This method is normally used to include programmer-defined header files.
A more complete description is available in the GCC documentation on search paths.
Setting a bit
Use the bitwise OR operator (|) to set a bit.
number |= 1UL << n;
That will set the nth bit of number. n should be zero, if you want to set the 1st bit and so on upto n-1, if you want to set the nth bit.
Use 1ULL if number is wider than unsigned long; promotion of 1UL << n doesn't happen until after evaluating 1UL << n where it's undefined behaviour to shift by more than the width of a long. The same applies to all the rest of the examples.
Clearing a bit
Use the bitwise AND operator (&) to clear a bit.
number &= ~(1UL << n);
That will clear the nth bit of number. You must invert the bit string with the bitwise NOT operator (~), then AND it.
Toggling a bit
The XOR operator (^) can be used to toggle a bit.
number ^= 1UL << n;
That will toggle the nth bit of number.
Checking a bit
You didn't ask for this, but I might as well add it.
To check a bit, shift the number n to the right, then bitwise AND it:
bit = (number >> n) & 1U;
That will put the value of the nth bit of number into the variable bit.
Changing the nth bit to x
Setting the nth bit to either 1 or 0 can be achieved with the following on a 2's complement C++ implementation:
number ^= (-x ^ number) & (1UL << n);
Bit n will be set if x is 1, and cleared if x is 0. If x has some other value, you get garbage. x = !!x will booleanize it to 0 or 1.
To make this independent of 2's complement negation behaviour (where -1 has all bits set, unlike on a 1's complement or sign/magnitude C++ implementation), use unsigned negation.
number ^= (-(unsigned long)x ^ number) & (1UL << n);
or
unsigned long newbit = !!x; // Also booleanize to force 0 or 1
number ^= (-newbit ^ number) & (1UL << n);
It's generally a good idea to use unsigned types for portable bit manipulation.
or
number = (number & ~(1UL << n)) | (x << n);
(number & ~(1UL << n)) will clear the nth bit and (x << n) will set the nth bit to x.
It's also generally a good idea to not to copy/paste code in general and so many people use preprocessor macros (like the community wiki answer further down) or some sort of encapsulation.
Best Answer
C++ allows operator overloading. That means a user-defined type can define its own behavior on built-in operators. In this case the operators are called:
left shiftorright shiftoperators. Those operators have been traditionally been used for bit-shifting, but the standard library repurposes them to symbolize streaming operations.You can find a list of the available operators in C and C++ here.
In your case you are streaming a string literal and a value of some type into std::cout, which is an object of type std::basic_ostream.
Step-by-Step
After precedence rules have been applied your code looks like this:
The compiler will basically transform the
object << objectexpressions into function calls.Then it will figure out which overload to call. (This is really tricky. For now it should be sufficient to believe that it simply looks for an overload of
operator<<with matching arguments).Most of the built-in overloads for basic_ostream are here and here.