Question

newbie question;
I have two binary numbers; say for example; 0b11 and 0b00. How can I combine the two numbers so that I get 0b1100 (i.e. place them right next to each other to form a new number)

Answer 1

With bitwise shift and or operators:

unsigned int a = 0x03;  /* Binary 11 (actually binary 00000000000000000000000000000011) */
unsigned int b = 0x00;  /* Binary 00 */

/* Shift `a` two steps so the number becomes `1100` */
/* Or with the second number to get the two lower bits */
unsigned int c = (a << 2) | b;

/* End result: `c` is now `1100` binary, or `0x0c` hex, or `12` decimal */