MACROMEDIA FLASH MX, Reference

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64 Chapter 2: ActionScript Language Reference
| (bitwise OR)
Availability
Flash Player 5.
Usage
expression1 | expression2
Parameters
expression1,expression2
A number.
Returns
A 32-bit integer.
Description
Operator (bitwise); converts
expression1
and
expression2
to 32-bit unsigned integers, and
returns a 1 in each bit position where the corresponding bits of either
expression1
or
expression2
are 1. Floating-point numbers are converted to integers by discarding any digits
after the decimal point. The result is a new 32-bit integer.
Positive integers are converted to an unsigned hex value with a maximum value of 4294967295 or
0xFFFFFFFF; values larger than the maximum have their most significant digits discarded when
they are converted so the value is still 32-bit. Negative numbers are converted to an unsigned hex
value via the two’s complement notation, with the minimum being -2147483648 or
0x800000000; numbers less than the minimum are converted to two’s complement with greater
precision and also have the most significant digits discarded.
The return value is interpreted as a two’s complement number with sign, so the return value will
be an integer in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.
For more information, see “Operator precedence and associativity” in Using ActionScript in Flash .
Example
The following is an example of a bitwise OR (|) operation:
// 15 decimal = 1111 binary
var x:Number = 15;
// 9 decimal = 1001 binary
var y:Number = 9;
// 1111 | 1001 = 1111
trace(x | y); // returns 15 decimal (1111 binary)
Don’t confuse the single
| (bitwise OR)
with
|| (logical OR).
See also
& (bitwise AND) , &= (bitwise AND assignment) , ^ (bitwise XOR) , ^= (bitwise XOR
assignment) , |= (bitwise OR assignment) , ~ (bitwise NOT)