User Guide

64 Chapter 2: ActionScript Language Reference

| (bitwise OR)

Availability

Flash Player 5.

Usage

expression1 | expression2

Parameters

expression1,expression2

A number.

Returns

A 32-bit integer.

Description

Operator (bitwise); converts expression1 and expression2 to 32-bit unsigned integers, and

returns a 1 in each bit position where the corresponding bits of either

expression1 or

expression2 are 1. Floating-point numbers are converted to integers by discarding any digits

after the decimal point. The result is a new 32-bit integer.

Positive integers are converted to an unsigned hex value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or

0xFFFFFFFF; values larger than the maximum have their most significant digits discarded when

they are converted so the value is still 32-bit. Negative numbers are converted to an unsigned hex

value via the two’s complement notation, with the minimum being -2147483648 or

0x800000000; numbers less than the minimum are converted to two’s complement with greater

precision and also have the most significant digits discarded.

The return value is interpreted as a two’s complement number with sign, so the return value will

be an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

For more information, see “Operator precedence and associativity” in Using ActionScript in Flash.

Example

The following is an example of a bitwise OR (|) operation:

// 15 decimal = 1111 binary

var x:Number = 15;

// 9 decimal = 1001 binary

var y:Number = 9;

// 1111 | 1001 = 1111

trace(x | y); // returns 15 decimal (1111 binary)

Don’t confuse the single | (bitwise OR) with || (logical OR).