what is XOR

XOR, or "exclusive or," is a logical operation that outputs true only when the inputs differ from one another. In other words, if one input is true and the other is false, the XOR operation will return true. However, if both inputs are the same—either both true or both false—the XOR operation will return false. The truth table for XOR is as follows:

In computer science and electrical engineering, XOR is widely used for various purposes, such as in arithmetic operations, data comparison, and certain algorithms. For instance, XOR is used in binary addition without carry, in error detection and correction codes, and in cryptography, especially in stream ciphers and for creating hash functions.