Question

I have this question in my beginner Java programming class and I can’t find in my book what a single ‘|’ means as an operator.

The question is:

int j = 0;    
if ((8 > 4) | (j++ == 7))
    System.out.println("j = " + j);

Is j = 1?

Explain why.

The book explains the OR operator “||” with examples but it doesn’t show this single “|”. Does the meaning of the operator change between the two?

Answer 1

Yes, the meaning changes, || is the logical or operator, while | is the bitwise or.

Since this operator operates (…) at the bit level, it doesn’t short circuit the same way as ||, meaning, even if the first operand is true, the second operand will be evaluated.