# Bit functions

Bit operations treat values as bit patterns. Integer operators act on numeric values; byte-string functions act on the bytes of text or BLOB input.

## Integer operators

```text
value & mask
value | mask
~value
value << positions
value >> positions
```

`&` is bitwise AND, `|` is bitwise OR and `~` inverts bits. Shifts move the pattern left or right. Native wide integer operations retain their full width rather than converting the value through floating point.

```sql
SELECT 6 & 3, 6 | 3, 1 << 4
FORMAT csv;
```

```text
2,7,16
```

## Binary-string functions

`get_bit(value, offset)` and `set_bit(value, offset, bit)` read or replace a bit. `get_byte` and `set_byte` address bytes. `bit_count` counts set bits, including bytes after an embedded zero.

```sql
SELECT bit_count(X'0F'), bit_count(X'00FF')
FORMAT csv;
```

```text
4,8
```

See the [encoding and binary reference](https://coordinatordb.com/docs/reference/functions/regular-functions/encoding-functions) for offsets, accepted values and out-of-range errors. To fold integer bit patterns across rows, use [bit_and](https://coordinatordb.com/docs/reference/functions/aggregate-functions/bit-and), [bit_or](https://coordinatordb.com/docs/reference/functions/aggregate-functions/bit-or) or [bit_xor](https://coordinatordb.com/docs/reference/functions/aggregate-functions/bit-xor).