How to perform the bitwise left-shift operation in Swift

Overview

The bitwise left-shift operation in Swift moves the bits of a number towards the left according to a given integer value. The vacant space is then occupied by a 0. It is represented by <<.

Syntax

Parameters

• number: This is the value on which the bitwise operation is being performed.
• a: This is the integer that dictates how many times the bits will shift to the left.

Return value

The bitwise left shift operation (<<) returns a number that is equivalent to multiplying the input value by a factor of 2. For example, shifting the bits of an integer to the left once results in double the value (or $2^{1}$). The generalized formula is $number*2^ a$.

Example

Explanation

• Line 2: We initialize the number variable, which holds the value on which the left shift will be applied.
• Line 5: We initialize the shift variable, which is the number of left shifts to be applied.
• Line 7: We perform the left shift operation and store the result in the result variable. We can confirm our answer by the following: $20*2^{3}=20*8=160$