JavaScript › Numbers, Math & BigInt

How do bitwise operators like >>>, &, and | behave differently on BigInt versus Number?

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Answer

Most bitwise operators work on BigInt the same way conceptually (treating it as an arbitrary-precision two's-complement integer), EXCEPT the unsigned right shift (>>>), which is explicitly NOT supported on BigInt at all, since BigInt has no fixed bit-width to define an 'unsigned' representation against.

5n & 3n;    // 1n -- works fine
5n | 2n;    // 7n -- works fine
// (-5n) >>> 1n; // TypeError: BigInts have no unsigned right shift

Real-world example Implementing custom arbitrary-precision bit-manipulation logic, like a big-integer hashing algorithm.

Common follow-ups: Why does regular Number bitwise math internally convert operands to 32-bit integers first?

Types & Coercion