Categories:

Bitwise expression functions

BITSHIFTLEFT

Shifts the bits for a numeric or binary expression n positions to the left.

Aliases:

BIT_SHIFTLEFT

See also:

BITSHIFTRIGHT

Syntax

BITSHIFTLEFT( <expr1> , <n> )
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Arguments

expr1

This expression must evaluate to an INTEGER value, a BINARY value, or a value of a data type that can be cast to an INTEGER value.

n

The number of bits to shift by.

Returns

Returns an INTEGER value, a BINARY value, or NULL:

  • When the input expression contains an INTEGER value, returns a signed 128-bit (16-byte) integer, regardless of the size or data type of the input data value.

  • When the input expression contains a BINARY value, returns a BINARY value.

  • If any argument is NULL, returns NULL.

Usage notes

  • If the data type of any argument is numeric but not INTEGER (e.g. FLOAT, DECIMAL, etc.), then that argument is cast to an INTEGER value.

  • If the data type of any argument is a string (e.g. VARCHAR), then the argument is cast to an INTEGER value if possible. For example, the string 12.3 is cast to 12. If the value cannot be cast to an INTEGER value, then the value is treated as NULL.

  • If a signed INTEGER value is returned, and the value of the high bit changes (from 0 to 1, or from 1 to 0), the sign of the result is reversed. For example, BITSHIFTLEFT(1, 127) returns a negative number.

  • If a signed INTEGER value is returned, bits that are shifted past the end of the 128-bit output value are dropped.

  • The function does not implicitly cast arguments to BINARY values.

Examples

The following sections contain examples for INTEGER argument values and BINARY argument values.

Using BITSHIFTLEFT and BITSHIFTRIGHT with INTEGER argument values

Create a simple table and data:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE bits (ID INTEGER, bit1 INTEGER, bit2 INTEGER);
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INSERT INTO bits (ID, bit1, bit2) VALUES 
  (   11,    1,     1),    -- Bits are all the same.
  (   24,    2,     4),    -- Bits are all different.
  (   42,    4,     2),    -- Bits are all different.
  ( 1624,   16,    24),    -- Bits overlap.
  (65504,    0, 65504),    -- Lots of bits (all but the low 6 bits).
  (    0, NULL,  NULL)     -- No bits.
  ;
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Run the query:

SELECT bit1, 
       bit2, 
       BITSHIFTLEFT(bit1, 1), 
       BITSHIFTRIGHT(bit2, 1)
  FROM bits
  ORDER BY bit1;
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+------+-------+-----------------------+------------------------+
| BIT1 |  BIT2 | BITSHIFTLEFT(BIT1, 1) | BITSHIFTRIGHT(BIT2, 1) |
|------+-------+-----------------------+------------------------|
|    0 | 65504 |                     0 |                  32752 |
|    1 |     1 |                     2 |                      0 |
|    2 |     4 |                     4 |                      2 |
|    4 |     2 |                     8 |                      1 |
|   16 |    24 |                    32 |                     12 |
| NULL |  NULL |                  NULL |                   NULL |
+------+-------+-----------------------+------------------------+

Using BITSHIFTLEFT with BINARY argument values

Create a simple table and insert the data:

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE bits (ID INTEGER, bit1 BINARY(2), bit2 BINARY(2), bit3 BINARY(4));

INSERT INTO bits VALUES
  (1, x'1010', x'0101', x'11001010'),
  (2, x'1100', x'0011', x'01011010'),
  (3, x'BCBC', x'EEFF', x'ABCDABCD'),
  (4, NULL, NULL, NULL);
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Note

The BINARY values are inserted using the x'value' notation, where value contains hexadecimal digits. For more information, see Binary input and output.

Run the query:

SELECT bit1,
       bit3,
       BITSHIFTLEFT(bit1, 1),
       BITSHIFTLEFT(bit3, 1),
       BITSHIFTLEFT(bit1, 8),
       BITSHIFTLEFT(bit3, 16)
  FROM bits;
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+------+----------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+------------------------+
| BIT1 | BIT3     | BITSHIFTLEFT(BIT1, 1) | BITSHIFTLEFT(BIT3, 1) | BITSHIFTLEFT(BIT1, 8) | BITSHIFTLEFT(BIT3, 16) |
|------+----------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+------------------------|
| 1010 | 11001010 | 2020                  | 22002020              | 1000                  | 10100000               |
| 1100 | 01011010 | 2200                  | 02022020              | 0000                  | 10100000               |
| BCBC | ABCDABCD | 7978                  | 579B579A              | BC00                  | ABCD0000               |
| NULL | NULL     | NULL                  | NULL                  | NULL                  | NULL                   |
+------+----------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+------------------------+
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