A bit shift is a bitwise operation where the order of a series of bits is moved, either to the left or right, to efficiently perform a mathematical operation. Bit shifts help with optimization in low-level programming because they require fewer calculations for the CPU than conventional math.

What is bit shift right?

A bit-shift moves each digit in a number’s binary representation left or right. Within right-shifts, there are two further divisions: logical right-shift and arithmetic right-shift. A left-shift is represented by the << operator, while a right-shift is represented by the >> operator.

Are bit shifts fast?

Bit-shifting is still faster, but for non-power-of-two mul/div by the time you do all your shifts and add the results it’s slower again.