BITLSHIFT Function (LibreOffice Calc)

• Shifts bits left by a specified number of positions
• Equivalent to multiplying by 2ⁿ
• Useful for binary encoding, masks, and low‑level numeric workflows

BITLSHIFT(number; shift)

Arguments

• number:
  A non‑negative integer.

• shift:
  Number of bits to shift left (integer; can be negative).

Shift left by 1 bit (multiply by 2)

=BITLSHIFT(5; 1)
→ 10

Because 5 = 101₂ → 1010₂ = 10

Shift left by 3 bits (multiply by 8)

=BITLSHIFT(7; 3)
→ 56

Using cell references

=BITLSHIFT(A1; B1)

Convert result to binary

=DEC2BIN(BITLSHIFT(A1; 2); 10)

Use negative shift (equivalent to right shift)

=BITLSHIFT(16; -2)
→ 4

Build a bit mask

=BITLSHIFT(1; bit_position)

Combine with BITAND to extract fields

=BITAND(A1; BITLSHIFT(255; 8))

Combine with BITOR to assemble packed values

=BITOR(BITLSHIFT(A1; 8); A2)

Use with BASE for arbitrary‑width binary

=BASE(BITLSHIFT(A1; A2); 2; 16)

BITLSHIFT returns a non‑negative integer

Accepts:

• Integers ≥ 0
• Shift values can be positive or negative

Behavior details

• Positive shift → left shift
• Negative shift → right shift
• Fractional inputs are truncated
• Overflow may occur for very large shifts
• Negative numbers are not allowed

Invalid input → Err:502

BITLSHIFT of an error → error propagates

• Use BITLSHIFT for fast multiplication by powers of two
• Use negative shift values for right shifts
• Combine with BITAND, BITOR, and BITXOR for full bitwise logic
• Use DEC2BIN or BASE for debugging binary states
• Validate inputs to avoid Err:502

• Use BITRSHIFT for right shifts
• Use BITAND, BITOR, BITXOR for bitwise logic
• Use DEC2BIN and BIN2DEC for conversions
• Use BASE for arbitrary‑length binary workflows

By mastering BITLSHIFT and its companion functions, you can build powerful bitwise and binary‑processing workflows in LibreOffice Calc.