Why use the Bitwise-Shift operator for values in a C enum definition?

Question

Apple sometimes uses the Bitwise-Shift operator in their enum definitions. For example, in the CGDirectDisplay.h file which is part of Core Graphics:

enum {
  kCGDisplayBeginConfigurationFlag  = (1 << 0),
  kCGDisplayMovedFlag           = (1 << 1),
  kCGDisplaySetMainFlag         = (1 << 2),
  kCGDisplaySetModeFlag         = (1 << 3),
  kCGDisplayAddFlag         = (1 << 4),
  kCGDisplayRemoveFlag          = (1 << 5),
  kCGDisplayEnabledFlag         = (1 << 8),
  kCGDisplayDisabledFlag        = (1 << 9),
  kCGDisplayMirrorFlag          = (1 << 10),
  kCGDisplayUnMirrorFlag        = (1 << 11),
  kCGDisplayDesktopShapeChangedFlag = (1 << 12)
};
typedef uint32_t CGDisplayChangeSummaryFlags;

Why not simply use incrementing int's like in a "normal" enum?

Answer 1

This way you can add multiple flags together to create a "set" of flags and can then use & to find out whether any given flag is in such a set.

You couldn't do that if it simply used incrementing numbers.

Example:

int flags = kCGDisplayMovedFlag | kCGDisplaySetMainFlag; // 6
if(flags & kCGDisplayMovedFlag) {} // true
if(flags & kCGDisplaySetModeFlag) {} // not true

Answer 2

This will allow for a variable to easily combine multiple flags:

unit32_t multFlag = kCGDisplayRemoveFlag | kCGDisplayMirrorFlag | kCGDisplaySetMainFlag'

Answer 3

If you have FlagA=1, FlagB=2 and FlagC=3, FlagA or FlagB would give the same value as FlagC. The shift operator is used to ensure that every combination of flags is unique.

hth, levu

Answer 4

Maybe writing the values in hexadecimal (or binary) helps :-)

enum {
  kCGDisplayBeginConfigurationFlag  = (1 << 0), /* 0b0000000000000001 */
  kCGDisplayMovedFlag               = (1 << 1), /* 0b0000000000000010 */
  kCGDisplaySetMainFlag             = (1 << 2), /* 0b0000000000000100 */
  kCGDisplaySetModeFlag             = (1 << 3), /* 0b0000000000001000 */
  kCGDisplayAddFlag                 = (1 << 4), /* 0b0000000000010000 */
  kCGDisplayRemoveFlag              = (1 << 5), /* 0b0000000000100000 */
  kCGDisplayEnabledFlag             = (1 << 8), /* 0b0000000100000000 */
  kCGDisplayDisabledFlag            = (1 << 9), /* 0b0000001000000000 */
  kCGDisplayMirrorFlag              = (1 << 10),/* 0b0000010000000000 */
  kCGDisplayUnMirrorFlag            = (1 << 11),/* 0b0000100000000000 */
  kCGDisplayDesktopShapeChangedFlag = (1 << 12) /* 0b0001000000000000 */
};

Now you can add them (or "or" them) and get different values

kCGDisplayAddFlag | kCGDisplayDisabledFlag /* 0b0000001000010000 */

Answer 5

.. because 1<<7 looks more concise and easier to read than 01000000. Doesn't it?

Answer 6

using #define is more understandable. but enum could group these value togater.