Which operator performs a logical right shift by one bit on an unsigned integer?

• A. <<
• B. &
• C. |
• D. >>

Answer: (D)

Shifting bits to the right moves every bit one position toward the least-significant end. For an unsigned integer, a logical right shift fills the vacated high-order bit with zero, effectively dividing the value by two and discarding the least-significant bit. The operator that performs this action is the right-shift operator, written as >> in many languages. It’s different from the left-shift operator, which moves bits to the left, filling the vacated low-order bits with zeros. Bitwise AND and OR do not shift at all; they combine bits from two values. For example, 11010110 shifted right by one becomes 01101011, showing both the rightward movement and the zero-fill on the left.