bitwise not

Summary

Performs a bitwise NOT (negation) on an expression.

Syntax

result = ~ expression

result

Any variable.

expression

Any expression.

Examples

See Remarks for explanation

var temp = ~5;
//result is -6

Remarks

All unary operators, such as the ~ operator, evaluate expressions as follows:

• If applied to undefined or null expressions, a run-time error is raised.
• Objects are converted to strings.
• Strings are converted to numbers if possible. If not, a run-time error is raised.
• Boolean values are treated as numbers (0 if false, 1 if true).

The operator is applied to the resulting number.

The ~ operator looks at the binary representation of the values of the expression and does a bitwise negation operation on it.

Any digit that is a 1 in the expression becomes a 0 in the result. Any digit that is a 0 in the expression becomes a 1 in the result.

The following example illustrates use of the bitwise NOT (~) operator.

var temp = ~5;

The resulting value is -6, as shown in the following table.

See also

Other articles

• Logical NOT Operator (!)

Attributions

• Microsoft Developer Network: Article