- Expressions and operators
- Expressions and operators by category
- Primary expressions
- Left-hand-side expressions
- Increment and decrement
- Unary operators
- Arithmetic operators
- Relational operators
- Equality operators
- Bitwise shift operators
- Binary bitwise operators
- Binary logical operators
- Conditional (ternary) operator
- Assignment operators
- Yield operators
- Spread syntax
- Comma operator
- Specifications
- Browser compatibility
- See also
- Found a content problem with this page?
- MDN
- Support
- Our communities
- Developers
- JavaScript Bitwise Operations
- JavaScript Bitwise AND
- JavaScript Bitwise OR
- JavaScript Bitwise XOR
- JavaScript Bitwise AND (&)
- Example
- JavaScript Bitwise OR (|)
- Example
- JavaScript Bitwise XOR (^)
- Example
- JavaScript Bitwise NOT (~)
- Example
- JavaScript (Zero Fill) Bitwise Left Shift (<<)
- Example
- JavaScript (Sign Preserving) Bitwise Right Shift (>>)
- Example
- JavaScript (Zero Fill) Right Shift (>>>)
- Example
- Binary Numbers
Expressions and operators
This chapter documents all the JavaScript language operators, expressions and keywords.
Expressions and operators by category
For an alphabetical listing see the sidebar on the left.
Primary expressions
Basic keywords and general expressions in JavaScript. These expressions have the highest precedence (higher than operators).
The this keyword refers to a special property of an execution context.
Basic null , boolean, number, and string literals.
Array initializer/literal syntax.
Object initializer/literal syntax.
The function keyword defines a function expression.
The class keyword defines a class expression.
The function* keyword defines a generator function expression.
The async function defines an async function expression.
The async function* keywords define an async generator function expression.
Regular expression literal syntax.
Left-hand-side expressions
Left values are the destination of an assignment.
Member operators provide access to a property or method of an object ( object.property and object[«property»] ).
The optional chaining operator returns undefined instead of causing an error if a reference is nullish ( null or undefined ).
The new operator creates an instance of a constructor.
In constructors, new.target refers to the constructor that was invoked by new .
An object exposing context-specific metadata to a JavaScript module.
The super keyword calls the parent constructor or allows accessing properties of the parent object.
The import() syntax allows loading a module asynchronously and dynamically into a potentially non-module environment.
Increment and decrement
Postfix/prefix increment and postfix/prefix decrement operators.
Postfix increment operator.
Postfix decrement operator.
Prefix increment operator.
Prefix decrement operator.
Unary operators
A unary operation is an operation with only one operand.
The delete operator deletes a property from an object.
The void operator evaluates an expression and discards its return value.
The typeof operator determines the type of a given object.
The unary plus operator converts its operand to Number type.
The unary negation operator converts its operand to Number type and then negates it.
Pause and resume an async function and wait for the promise’s fulfillment/rejection.
Arithmetic operators
Arithmetic operators take numerical values (either literals or variables) as their operands and return a single numerical value.
Relational operators
A comparison operator compares its operands and returns a boolean value based on whether the comparison is true.
Less than or equal operator.
Greater than or equal operator.
The instanceof operator determines whether an object is an instance of another object.
The in operator determines whether an object has a given property.
Note: => is not an operator, but the notation for Arrow functions.
Equality operators
The result of evaluating an equality operator is always of type boolean based on whether the comparison is true.
Strict inequality operator.
Bitwise shift operators
Operations to shift all bits of the operand.
Bitwise left shift operator.
Bitwise right shift operator.
Bitwise unsigned right shift operator.
Binary bitwise operators
Bitwise operators treat their operands as a set of 32 bits (zeros and ones) and return standard JavaScript numerical values.
Binary logical operators
Logical operators implement boolean (logical) values and have short-circuiting behavior.
Nullish Coalescing Operator.
Conditional (ternary) operator
The conditional operator returns one of two values based on the logical value of the condition.
Assignment operators
An assignment operator assigns a value to its left operand based on the value of its right operand.
Unsigned right shift assignment.
Nullish coalescing assignment.
Destructuring assignment allows you to assign the properties of an array or object to variables using syntax that looks similar to array or object literals.
Yield operators
Pause and resume a generator function.
Delegate to another generator function or iterable object.
Spread syntax
Spread syntax allows an iterable, such as an array or string, to be expanded in places where zero or more arguments (for function calls) or elements (for array literals) are expected. In an object literal, the spread syntax enumerates the properties of an object and adds the key-value pairs to the object being created.
Comma operator
The comma operator allows multiple expressions to be evaluated in a single statement and returns the result of the last expression.
Specifications
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
See also
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JavaScript Bitwise Operations
JavaScript stores numbers as 64 bits floating point numbers, but all bitwise operations are performed on 32 bits binary numbers.
Before a bitwise operation is performed, JavaScript converts numbers to 32 bits signed integers.
After the bitwise operation is performed, the result is converted back to 64 bits JavaScript numbers.
The examples above uses 4 bits unsigned binary numbers. Because of this ~ 5 returns 10.
Since JavaScript uses 32 bits signed integers, it will not return 10. It will return -6.
11111111111111111111111111111010 (~5 = -6)
A signed integer uses the leftmost bit as the minus sign.
JavaScript Bitwise AND
When a bitwise AND is performed on a pair of bits, it returns 1 if both bits are 1.
JavaScript Bitwise OR
When a bitwise OR is performed on a pair of bits, it returns 1 if one of the bits is 1:
JavaScript Bitwise XOR
When a bitwise XOR is performed on a pair of bits, it returns 1 if the bits are different:
JavaScript Bitwise AND (&)
Bitwise AND returns 1 only if both bits are 1:
Decimal | Binary |
---|---|
5 | 00000000000000000000000000000101 |
1 | 00000000000000000000000000000001 |
5 & 1 | 00000000000000000000000000000001 (1) |
Example
JavaScript Bitwise OR (|)
Bitwise OR returns 1 if one of the bits is 1:
Decimal | Binary |
---|---|
5 | 00000000000000000000000000000101 |
1 | 00000000000000000000000000000001 |
5 | 1 | 00000000000000000000000000000101 (5) |
Example
JavaScript Bitwise XOR (^)
Bitwise XOR returns 1 if the bits are different:
Decimal | Binary |
---|---|
5 | 00000000000000000000000000000101 |
1 | 00000000000000000000000000000001 |
5 ^ 1 | 00000000000000000000000000000100 (4) |
Example
JavaScript Bitwise NOT (~)
Example
JavaScript (Zero Fill) Bitwise Left Shift (<<)
This is a zero fill left shift. One or more zero bits are pushed in from the right, and the leftmost bits fall off:
Decimal | Binary |
---|---|
5 | 00000000000000000000000000000101 |
5 | 00000000000000000000000000001010 (10) |
Example
JavaScript (Sign Preserving) Bitwise Right Shift (>>)
This is a sign preserving right shift. Copies of the leftmost bit are pushed in from the left, and the rightmost bits fall off:
Decimal | Binary |
---|---|
-5 | 11111111111111111111111111111011 |
-5 >> 1 | 11111111111111111111111111111101 (-3) |
Example
JavaScript (Zero Fill) Right Shift (>>>)
This is a zero fill right shift. One or more zero bits are pushed in from the left, and the rightmost bits fall off:
Decimal | Binary |
---|---|
5 | 00000000000000000000000000000101 |
5 >>> 1 | 00000000000000000000000000000010 (2) |
Example
Binary Numbers
Binary numbers with only one bit set are easy to understand:
Binary Representation | Decimal value |
---|---|
00000000000000000000000000000001 | 1 |
00000000000000000000000000000010 | 2 |
00000000000000000000000000000100 | 4 |
00000000000000000000000000001000 | 8 |
00000000000000000000000000010000 | 16 |
00000000000000000000000000100000 | 32 |
00000000000000000000000001000000 | 64 |
Setting a few more bits reveals the binary pattern:
Binary Representation | Decimal value |
---|---|
00000000000000000000000000000101 | 5 (4 + 1) |
00000000000000000000000000001101 | 13 (8 + 4 + 1) |
00000000000000000000000000101101 | 45 (32 + 8 + 4 + 1) |
JavaScript binary numbers are stored in two’s complement format.
This means that a negative number is the bitwise NOT of the number plus 1:
Binary Representation | Decimal value |
---|---|
00000000000000000000000000000101 | 5 |
11111111111111111111111111111011 | -5 |
00000000000000000000000000000110 | 6 |
11111111111111111111111111111010 | -6 |
00000000000000000000000000101000 | 40 |
11111111111111111111111111011000 | -40 |