CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyoperatorspipe
Jeff Storey
Jeff Storey

Reputation: 57212

ruby pipe operator

I'm new to ruby, and I saw this code snippet

1|2

and it returns 3

What does the | operator actually do? I couldn't seem to find any documentation on it. Also, in this context is it referred to as the "pipe" operator? or is it called something else?

Upvotes: 26

Views: 15216

Answers (3)

roshiro
roshiro

Reputation: 780

This is a bitwise operator and they work directly with the binary representation of the value.

| mean OR. Let me show you how it works.

1|2 = 3 what happens under the hoods is:

1 = 0001
2 = 0010
--------
3 = 0011 <- result

another example:

10|2 = 10 now in binary:

10 = 1010
2  = 0010
--------
10 = 1010 <- result

Upvotes: 33

nickgroenke
nickgroenke

Reputation: 1502

In Ruby, "operators" are actually method calls. They are defined by each class.

1 and 2 are Fixnum and so in 1|2 pipe does "bitwise or".

Ruby doc

Bitwise info

Upvotes: 15

Speed
Speed

Reputation: 1434

It is the bitwise or operator.

http://www.java2s.com/Code/Ruby/Language-Basics/dobitwiseoperationsinRuby.htm

Upvotes: 2

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