Home
CBM
  ASCII-X
  BASIC
    Disk Commands
    Enter RUN mode
    Program Format
    Secret Variables
    Variable Format
    Expressions
    Keywords
      (divide)
      (equal)
      (less)
      (minus)
      (more)
      (multiply)
      (plus)
      (power)
      Abs
      And
      Append
      Asc
      Atn
      Auto
      Backup
      Bank
      Begin
      Bend
      Bload
      Boot
      Box
      Bsave
      Bump
      Catalog
      Char
      Chr
      Circle
      Close
      Clr
      Cmd
      Collect
      Collision
      Color
      Concat
      Cont
      Copy
      Cos
      Data
      Dclear
      Dclose
      Dec
      Def
      Delete
      Dim
      Directory
      Dispose
      Dload
      Do
      Dopen
      Draw
      Ds
      Ds string
      Dsave
      Dverify
      El
      Else
      End
      Envelope
      Er
      Err
      Exit
      Exp
      Fast
      Fetch
      Filter
      Fn
      For
      Fre
      Get
      Get num
      Getkey
      Go
      Gosub
      Goto
      Graphic
      Gshape
      Header
      Help
      Hex
      If
      Input
      Input num
      Instr
      Int
      Joy
      Key
      Left
      Len
      Let
      List
      Load
      Locate
      Log
      Loop
      Mid
      Monitor
      Movspr
      New
      Next
      Not
      Off
      On
      Open
      Or
      Paint
      Peek
      Pen
      Pi
      Play
      Pointer
      Poke
      Pos
      Pot
      Print
      Print num
      Pudef
      Quit
      Rclr
      Rdot
      Read
      Record
      Rem
      Rename
      Renumber
      Restore
      Resume
      Return
      Rgr
      Right
      Rlum
      Rnd
      Rreg
      Rspcolor
      Rsppos
      Rsprite
      Run
      Rwindow
      Save
      Scale
      Scnclr
      Scratch
      Sgn
      Sin
      Sleep
      Slow
      Sound
      Spc
      Sprcolor
      Sprdef
      Sprite
      Sprsav
      Sqr
      Sshape
      St
      Stash
      Step
      Stop
      Str
      Swap
      Sys
      Tab
      Tan
      Tempo
      Then
      Ti
      Ti string
      To
      Trap
      Troff
      Tron
      Until
      Using
      Usr
      Val
      Verify
      Vol
      Wait
      While
      Width
      Window
      Xor
    Syntax
    Tokens
  C128
  D64plus
  Disk
  Escape Codes
  Hardware
  PCxface
  PETSCII
  Pet2asc
Futurama
IBM PC-AT
Contact
Games
Glossary
Hall of fame
Hall of shame
Miscellaneous
Privacy policy
Programming
Twisty puzzles
KeywordAbbreviationToken (hex)Version(s)Classification
XORX{Shift+O}CE 087.0Function

 Syntax 
XOR ( subject , mask )
 
ParametersTypeLegal Value(s)Default ValueNote(s)
subjectFloat or unsigned Integer
0 to 65535
true is illegal!
maskFloat or unsigned Integer 0 to 65535  true is illegal!
 
ReturnsTypeValue(s)Note(s)
resultunsigned Integer
0 to 65535
Never returns -1
 
 Purpose 
Evaluate a bit-wise boolean operation.

 
 Remarks 
The XOR function (unlike the OR and AND operators) is exclusively used for bit-wise operations (see notes about logical operation below) because it requires unsigned parameters, and it returns an unsigned result.  First, if either parameter is a string, a TYPE MISMATCH ERROR is generated.  Next, each parameter, if floating-point, is converted to an integer; if the result is not a legal value (see above) then ILLEGAL QUANTITY ERROR is generated.  Finally, each of the 16 corresponding bit pairs is evaluated and the corresponding bit in the result is assigned according to this truth table:
 
XORMask
01
Subject001Result
110
 
 
For bit-wise operations, it may be helpful to think of the mask as filtering the subject, such that if a mask bit is 0, the result bit is the same as the original subject.  If the mask bit is 1, the result bit will always the complement of the subject bit.  So you might also think of it as selectively flipping bits.  I hope this doesn't confuse you, but another way to look at it is a simple 1-bit addition with wrap-around.  This is different than normal addition because each bit pair is processed individually (instead of all bits being considered a single number).  Yet another way to think of it is as subtraction with wrap-around.
 
Because all BASIC functions and operators that return a boolean value return -1 for true, this function can not be directly used for logical comparisons.  However, it is possible if you apply the ABS function to both parameters.  Although this trick allows XOR to act like a logical operator, a true result would be +1 which might cause problems.  So you might also need to negate the result too.
 
Examples are provided below, but to really understand XOR, you need to know how to convert a decimal number into binary (and back again).  I won't try to explain that here; you may find this web page helpful for experimenting, or use a calculator.
 
The XOR function is occassionally used with IF, DO, and LOOP (but not very often due to the use of UNSGINED integers).
  
Some "logical" examples:
A=1 : B=2

READY.
PRINT XOR(A>0, A>B)

?ILLEGAL QUANTITY ERROR
READY.
PRINT -XOR(ABS(A>0), ABS(A>B))
-1

READY.
PRINT -XOR(ABS(A<0), ABS(A>B))
 0
 
READY.
 
Some examples demonstrating bit-wise complement:
A=5      : REM binary 0000 0000 0000 0101

READY.
B=3      : REM binary 0000 0000 0000 0011

READY.
PRINT XOR(A,B)
 6       : REM binary 0000 0000 0000 0110

READY.
 
 Compare With 
+, -, OR
 
 Contrast With 
 
 See Also 

© H2Obsession, 2014