Logical XOR Operator in C

1. an Overview of XOR (^) Operator in C
2. Use ^ to Apply XOR in C Programming Language
3. Apply XOR in C Programming Language

In this article, we will understand about logical XOR (^) operator in the C programming language.

an Overview of XOR (^) Operator in C

Exclusive OR, also known as XOR, is a logical operator that returns a true result when either of the operands is true (one is true, and the other is false), but not when both are true nor when both are false. When both operands are true, using the basic or in logical condition creation might lead to confusion.

Because under such circumstances, it is challenging to comprehend what it is that precisely meets the criteria. This issue has been resolved by adding the qualifier exclusive to the word or, which also clarifies its meaning.

Use ^ to Apply XOR in C Programming Language

The ^ operator, also known as bitwise XOR, takes two integers as its operands and performs XOR on every bit of both numbers.

If both bits are different, the XOR operation will provide a value of 1. If the bits are identical, it will return the value 0.

Let us take an example to apply the bitwise XOR in C. Firstly, import the libraries and create a main() function.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {}

Inside the main function, establish two variables named firstValue and secondValue with the int datatype and set integer values for each. The firstValue is equal to 0101, and the secondValue is equal to 1001 in binary format.

int firstValue = 5;
int secondValue = 9;

Now that we have these two variables, we need to apply XOR to them, so let us create a new variable called applyXOR and use the symbol ^ on both of these variables.

int applyXOR = firstValue ^ secondValue;

In the above expression, the XOR operation will be performed on both binary values shown as follows.

Now we get the number 1100 in binary format, which, converted to decimal, is the same as the value 12. Then we print the value that was obtained.

printf("The value obtained after applying XOR is: %d", applyXOR);

Apply XOR in C Programming Language

Code Example:

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
  int firstValue = 5;
  int secondValue = 9;
  int applyXOR = firstValue ^ secondValue;

  printf("The value obtained after applying XOR is: %d", applyXOR);

  return 0;
}

Output:

The value obtained after applying XOR is: 12

Let’s take another example to demonstrate the working of the XOR (^) operator.

Given a collection of numbers in which every item occurs an even number of times apart from one number, locate the odd occurring number. Simply applying the XOR(^) operator to each integer to solve this issue is an effective way to tackle it.

Code Example:

#include <stdio.h>
int getOddOccurringNumber(int arr[], int number) {
  int value = 0, i;
  for (i = 0; i < number; i++) value ^= arr[i];
  return value;
}

int main(void) {
  int array[] = {12, 12, 14, 90, 14, 16, 16};
  int sizeNumber = sizeof(array) / sizeof(array[0]);
  printf("The value that occurred odd times in the list is: %d ",
         getOddOccurringNumber(array, sizeNumber));
  return 0;
}

Output:

The value that occurred odd times in the list is: 90