What is Bitwise OR in C++?

The bitwise OR operator (|) compares each bit of first operand to the corresponding bit of second operand. If either bit is 1, the corresponding result bit is set to 1. Otherwise, the corresponding result bit is set to 0. Both operands to the bitwise inclusive OR operator must be of integral types. For example,

Example

#include <iostream>  
using namespace std;  
int main() {  
   unsigned short a = 0x5555;      // pattern 0101 ...  
   unsigned short b = 0xAAAA;      // pattern 1010 ...  
   cout << hex << ( a | b ) << endl;
}