Boolean operators vs Bitwise operators

Question

I am confused as to when I should use Boolean vs bitwise operators

• and vs &
• or vs |

Answer 1

Boolean operation are logical operations.

Bitwise operations are operations on binary bits.

Bitwise operations:

>>> k = 1
>>> z = 3
>>> k & z  
1
>>> k | z  
3

The operations:

• AND &: 1 if both bits are 1, otherwise 0
• OR |: 1 if either bit is 1, otherwise 0
• XOR ^: 1 if the bits are different, 0 if they're the same
• NOT ~': Flip each bit

Some of the uses of bitwise operations:

1. Setting and Clearing Bits

Boolean operations:

>>> k = True
>>> z = False
>>> k & z  # and
False
>>> k | z  # or
True
>>>