program giving different output than what i expected

Question

nt main()
{
    cout << ('a'^'b');
}

when i wrote this simple code(in C++) program giving the "3" output. but it must be "1". do you know why? is there problem with the xor operator??

Answer 1

There is no problem with XOR and the result of 3 is correct.

   'a' XOR 'b'
-> 0x61 XOR 0x62          (hex, per ASCII)
-> 01100001 XOR 01100010  (binary)
-> 00000011               (only these bits differ)
-> 3                      (decimal)

Consider the following, which is 1 - why?

'`' ^ 'a'