What does the |= operator do in Java?

Question

While reading the Android guide to Notifications, I stumbled across this:

Adding vibration

You can alert the user with th

Answer 1

a |= x is a = a | x, and | is "bitwise inclusive OR"

Whenever such questions arise, check the official tutorial on operators.

Each operator has an assignment form:

+= -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= >>>=

Where a OP= x is translated to a = a OP x

And about bitwise operations:

   0101 (decimal 5)
OR 0011 (decimal 3)
 = 0111 (decimal 7)

The bitwise OR may be used in situations where a set of bits are used as flags; the bits in a single binary numeral may each represent a distinct Boolean variable. Applying the bitwise OR operation to the numeral along with a bit pattern containing 1 in some positions will result in a new numeral with those bits set.