BITAND Function in Excel: Bitwise AND

BITAND Function in Excel: Bitwise AND featured illustration

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⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

EngineeringLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2013+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. BITAND in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

BITAND compares numbers bit by bit. Useful for decoding status flags stored as one number.

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Syntax

=BITAND(number1, number2)
Argument What it means
number1, number2 Non-negative whole numbers.

Examples

Example 1

=BITAND(B2, 4)>0

Is the “blocked” flag (value 4) set in a status code?

BITAND in practice

Where you will use it

  • Check a permission flag in a bit mask
  • Decode status bits from devices
  • Filter by flags

Worked example

MaskFlagFormulaResult
134=BITAND(A2,B2)4
132=BITAND(A3,B3)0
255128=BITAND(A4,B4)128

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Expecting TRUE/FALSEResult is a number; >0 means set
LimitsValues up to 2^48-1

DEC2BIN · MOD

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Engineering & conversion15 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 34 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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