The shift operators in Java have the following properties (Java Language Specification (JLS) §15.19, "Shift Operators") [JLS 2005]:
- The
>>right shift is an arithmetic shift; the>>>right shift is a logical shift. - The types
boolean,float, anddoublecannot use the bit shifting operators. - When the value to be shifted is of type
int, only the five lowest-order bits of the right-hand operand are used as the shift distance. That is, the shift distance is the value of the right-hand operand masked by 31 (0x1F). The shift distance actually used is consequently always in the range 0 to 31, inclusive. - When the value to be shifted (left-operand) is type
long, only the last 6 bits of the right-hand operand are used to perform the shift. The shift distance is the value of the right-hand operand masked by 63 (0x3F). The shift distance actually used is consequently always in the range 0 to 63, inclusive.
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Arithmetic vs. Logical Shift
The JLS [JLS 2005] defines the behavior of the arithmetic shift operator as follows:
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