Checking whether a number is positive or negative using bitwise operators

Question

I can check whether a number is odd/even using bitwise operators. Can I check whether a number is positive/zero/negative without using any conditional statements/operators l

Answer 1

If the high bit is set on a signed integer (byte, long, etc., but not a floating point number), that number is negative.

int x = -2300;  // assuming a 32-bit int

if ((x & 0x80000000) != 0)
{
    // number is negative
}

ADDED:

You said that you don't want to use any conditionals. I suppose you could do this:

int isNegative = (x & 0x80000000);

And at some later time you can test it with if (isNegative).