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Samuel Gomes edited this page Nov 8, 2022 · 1 revision

NOT is a Boolean logical operator that will change a false statement to a true one and vice-versa.

Syntax

True = -1: False = NOT True

Description

  • In QBasic, True = -1 and False = 0 in boolean logic and evaluation statements.
  • NOT evaluates a value and returns the bitwise opposite, meaning that NOT 0 = -1.
  • Often called a negative logic operator, it returns the opposite of a value as true or false.
  • Values are changed by their bit values so that each bit is changed to the opposite of on or off. See example 3 below.

Relational Operators:

Symbol Condition Example Usage
= Equal IF a = b THEN
<> NOT equal IF a <> b THEN
< Less than IF a < b THEN
> Greater than IF a > b THEN
<= Less than or equal IF a <= b THEN
>= Greater than or equal IF a >= b THEN

The results of the bitwise logical operations, where A and B are operands, and T and F indicate that a bit is set or not set:

A B NOT B AND B OR B XOR B EQV B IMP B
T T F T T F T T
T F T F T T F F
F T F F T T F T
F F T F F F T T

Relational Operations return negative one (-1, all bits set) and zero (0, no bits set) for true and false, respectively. This allows relational tests to be inverted and combined using the bitwise logical operations.

Example(s)

Alternating between two conditions in a program loop.

DO
switch = NOT switch       'NOT changes value from -1 to 0 and vice-versa
LOCATE 10, 38
IF switch THEN PRINT "True!" ELSE PRINT "False"
SLEEP
k$ = INKEY$
LOOP UNTIL k$ = CHR$(27) ' escape key quit

Reading a file until it reaches the End Of File.

DO WHILE NOT EOF(1) 
  INPUT #1, data1, data2, data3
LOOP 

Explanation: EOF will return 0 until a file ends. NOT converts 0 to -1 so that the loop continues to run. When EOF becomes -1, NOT converts it to 0 to end the loop.

So why does NOT 5 = -6? Because NOT changes every bit of a value into the opposite:

PRINT NOT 5
PRINT
ReadBits 5
ReadBits -6

SUB ReadBits (n AS INTEGER) 'change type value and i bit reads for other whole type values
FOR i = 15 TO 0 STEP -1 'see the 16 bit values
    IF n AND 2 ^ i THEN PRINT "1"; ELSE PRINT "0";
NEXT
PRINT
END SUB 

-6

0000000000000101
1111111111111010

Explanation: The bit values of an INTEGER are 2 _BYTEs and each bit is an exponent of 2 from 15 to 0 (16 bits). Thus comparing the numerical value with those exponents using AND reveals the bit values as "1" for bits on or "0" for bits off as text.

QB64 can use &B to convert the above _BIT values back to INTEGER or _BYTE values as shown below:

'16 bit INTEGER values from -32768 to 32767
a% = &B0000000000000101
PRINT a%
b% = &B1111111111111010
PRINT b%
'8 bit BYTE values from -128 to 127
a%% = &B00000101
PRINT a%%
b%% = &B11111010
PRINT b%%

See Also

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