The BITXOR function is a bitwise XOR (exclusive or) of 2 numbers that returns a bit of “1” if 2 bits are different, and a bit of “0” otherwise. This function returns a number that’s the result of performing an XOR function at each bit of the 2 given numbers.
Parts of a BITXOR function
BITXOR(value1, value2)
| Part | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
value1 | The first numeric value. | |
value2 | The second numeric value. |
Sample formulas
BITXOR(9, 5)
BITXOR(A1, A2)
Notes
- Order doesn’t matter for values. The result is the same regardless.
- Values don’t necessarily have to be numbers. Instead, they may be coerced. For example, a string value of “3” can be coerced to be simply 3, and a Boolean value of TRUE can be coerced to 1.
Examples
In the following example, we use BITXOR with values inlined into the function. The values 2 (represented as 10 in base 2) and 4 (represented as 100 in base 2) result in 6 (represented as 110 in base 2):
| A | B |
|---|---|
| 1 | Formula |
| 2 | =BITXOR(2, 4) |
In this example, values of 2 and 4 result in a BITXOR of 6. However, this time we use cell references to use as our values:
| A | B | C |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Formula | Result |
| 2 | =BITXOR(2, 4) | 6 |
| 3 |
Related functions
- BITOR: The BITOR function returns the bitwise Boolean OR of 2 numbers.
- XOR: The XOR function returns TRUE if an odd number of the provided arguments are logically true, and FALSE otherwise.