Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripting - Second Edition

Shift left and shift right operators

The -shl and -shr operators were introduced with PowerShell 3.0. These operators perform bit-shifting.

The possible bit values for a byte may be represented in a table:

Bit position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Bit value	128	64	32	16	8	4	2	1

For a numeric value of 78, the following bits must be set:

Bit value	128	64	32	16	8	4	2	1
On or off	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	0

When a left shift operation is performed, every bit is moved one to the left. Say we run this expression:

78 -shl 1 

The result is 156, which may be expressed in the bit table:

Bit value	128	64	32	16	8	4	2	1
Before shift	0	1	0	0	1	1	1