Unary "Not" or bit-flip operator in PowerShell?

Question

I have a decimal value 163 that I need to do a unary "not" operation on. In C++ and Java, this would look like ~(163). Essentially, I want every bit to flip.

Is there a way to do this in PowerShell using a unary operator or, if needed, a subroutine? I would also need this to flip all the bits of the entire 32-bit address. In other words, 163 in binary is 0b10100011, but I would want the entire 32-bit container to be flipped including the 163 at the end (e.g. 0b11111......01011100).

I don't think I am. -bnot 163 gets me -164. Could you provide its usage? I need something backwards compatible with PowerShell v2. — AlwaysQuestioning
– AlwaysQuestioning, Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 21:20
@AlwaysQuestioning -164 is the correct result because it's a signed integer. See my answer. — briantist
– briantist, Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 21:24

briantist · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-07 23:01:34Z

12

As Bill_Stewart commented, the -bnot (binary not or bitwise not) operator does what you want. It works in PowerShell 2.0.

Just be aware that PowerShell's default integers are generally signed, and the result of this operation will be different depending on that.

You may need to cast to one of the unsigned types to get the result you want:

-bnot ([uint32]163)

edited Jun 7, 2022 at 23:01

answered Jan 10, 2017 at 21:22

briantist

48.3k6 gold badges94 silver badges139 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

timelmer Over a year ago

Link for 7.2

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Unary "Not" or bit-flip operator in PowerShell?

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related