C program to clear nth bit of a number

Categories C programming 2 mins read

Write a C program to input any number from user and clear the nth bit of the given number using bitwise operator. How to clear nth bit of a given number using bitwise operator in C programming. How to unset (0) the value of nth bit of a given number in C.

Example

Input

Input number: 13
Input nth bit to clear: 0

Output

Number after clearing nth bit: 12 (in decimal)

Also read –

Required knowledge

Bitwise operators, Data types, Variables and Expressions, Basic input/output

Logic to clear nth bit of a number

To clear nth bit of a number we will use combination of bitwise left shift <<, bitwise complement ~ and bitwise AND & operator.

Below is the step by step descriptive logic to clear nth bit of a number.

  1. Input number and nth bit position to clear from user. Store it in some variable say num and n.
  2. Left shift 1, n times i.e. 1 << n.
  3. Perform bitwise complement with the above result. So that the nth bit becomes unset and rest of bit becomes set i.e. ~ (1 << n).
  4. Finally, perform bitwise AND operation with the above result and num. The above three steps together can be written as num & (~ (1 << n));

Let us take an example to understand this.
Clear nth bit of a number

Program to clear nth bit of a number

/**
 * C program to clear the nth bit of a number
 */

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int num, n, newNum;

    /* Input number from user */
    printf("Enter any number: ");
    scanf("%d", &num);

    /* Input bit number you want to clear */
    printf("Enter nth bit to clear (0-31): ");
    scanf("%d", &n);

    /*
     * Left shifts 1 to n times
     * Perform complement of above
     * finally perform bitwise AND with num and result of above
     */
    newNum = num & (~(1 << n));

    printf("Bit cleared successfully.\n\n");
    printf("Number before clearing %d bit: %d (in decimal)\n", n, num);
    printf("Number after clearing %d bit: %d (in decimal)\n", n, newNum);

    return 0;
}

Output

Enter any number: 13
Enter nth bit to clear (0-31): 0
Bit cleared successfully.

Number before clearing 0 bit: 13 (in decimal)
Number after clearing 0 bit: 12 (in decimal)

Happy coding 😉