Java - right shift operator

The Bitwise right shift operator (>>) takes the two numbers and right shift the bits of first operand by number of place specified by second operand. For example: for right shifting the bits of x by y places, the expression (x>>y) can be used. It is equivalent to dividing x by 2^y.

The example below describes how right shift operator works:

1000 >> 2 returns 250

                      (In Binary)
   1000         ->    1111101000  
   >> 2                     |  right shift the bits
   -----                    V  by 2 places
    250         <-      11111010 
                      (In Binary) 

The code of using right shift operator (>>) is given below:

public class MyClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    int x = 1000;
    int z;

    //right shift operation
    z = x >> 2;

    //Displaying the result
    System.out.println("z = "+z);
  }
}

The output of the above code will be:

z = 250

Example: Find largest power of 2 less than or equal to given number

Consider an integer 1000. In the bit-wise format, it can be written as 1111101000. However, all bits are not written here. A complete representation will be 32 bit representation as given below:

00000000000000000000001111101000  

Performing N = N | (N>>i) operation, where i = 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 will change all right side bit to 1. When applied on 1000, the result in 32 bit representation is given below:

00000000000000000000001111111111 

Adding one to this result and then right shifting the result by one place will give largest power of 2 less than or equal to 1000.

00000000000000000000001000000000 

The below code will calculate the largest power of 2 less than or equal to given number.

public class MyClass {
  static int MaxPowerOfTwo(int N) {
    //changing all right side bits to 1.
    N = N | (N>>1);
    N = N | (N>>2);
    N = N | (N>>4);
    N = N | (N>>8);
    N = N | (N>>16);
    
    //adding 1 to N makes smallest power
    //of 2 greater than given number
    N = N + 1;

    //right shift by one position makes
    //largest power of 2 less than or 
    //equal to given number
    N = N >> 1;
    
    return N;
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("MaxPowerOfTwo(100) = "+
        MaxPowerOfTwo(100));
    System.out.println("MaxPowerOfTwo(500) = "+
        MaxPowerOfTwo(500));
    System.out.println("MaxPowerOfTwo(1000) = "+
        MaxPowerOfTwo(1000));      
  }
}

The above code will give the following output:

MaxPowerOfTwo(100) = 64
MaxPowerOfTwo(500) = 256
MaxPowerOfTwo(1000) = 512