FirebirdSQL
Add Standard Bitwise Operators (&, |, ^, ~, <<, >>)
Description: Currently, Firebird lacks support for standard bitwise operators (&, |, ^, ~, <<, >>). To perform bitwise operations, users must rely on non-standard functions like BIN_AND, BIN_OR, etc.
This creates significant challenges in two main areas:
Database Migration: Migrating database logic from other systems (such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server) that use standard bitwise operators to Firebird requires extensive and cumbersome rewriting of SQL code. This is a major hurdle that increases migration costs and complexity.
ORM Support: Many popular Data/ORM frameworks (e.g., Entity Framework, Dapper, SQLAlchemy, and others) have built-in support for standard bitwise operators in their LINQ or query expressions. The absence of these operators in Firebird means that these ORMs cannot generate the correct SQL, leading to a lack of support or forcing developers to use raw SQL workarounds. This severely impacts developer experience and productivity when using Firebird with modern application frameworks.
Proposed Solution: We kindly request the addition of the standard bitwise operators to the Firebird SQL dialect:
& (Bitwise AND)
| (Bitwise OR)
^ (Bitwise XOR)
~ (Bitwise NOT)
<< (Bitwise Left Shift)
>> (Bitwise Right Shift)
These new operators should function identically to the existing BIN_* functions but provide a standard and familiar syntax.
Benefits:
Easier Migrations: Drastically simplifies the process of moving applications from other databases to Firebird.
Better ORM Compatibility: Enables full support for bitwise operations in various Object-Relational Mappers, making Firebird a more attractive option for modern development.
Improved Developer Experience: Allows developers to write more intuitive and portable SQL code.
Thank you for considering this feature request.
The SQL standard does not define bitwise operators or functions. Firebird provides a set of functions for it: Bitwise Functions.
BTW: Any ORM or query generator worth its salt will be able to map to functions for this.
That said, I wouldn't mind this.
For comparison, operators like this are offered by SQL Server, PostgreSQL (though in PostgreSQL ^ is exponentiation, XOR is #), MySQL, MariaDB.
For example Oracle and DB2 don't have this, only functions.
Did you use AI to generate this post?
Why are you question this?
Because I want to know; I find this style hard to read, and some of the arguments seem a bit spurious.
I wouldn't rush to implement operators not included in the SQL standard. Some DBMSs are now paying the price for initially poor decisions. For example, MySQL once made the || operator similar to the OR operator for "convenience." Now, instead of the standard string concatenation operator, they have to deal with the CONCAT function.
I wouldn't rush to implement operators not included in the SQL standard. Some DBMSs are now paying the price for initially poor decisions. For example, MySQL once made the
||operator similar to theORoperator for "convenience." Now, instead of the standard string concatenation operator, they have to deal with theCONCATfunction.
Very good argument.
On 11/24/25 18:37, Adriano dos Santos Fernandes wrote:
asfernandes left a comment (FirebirdSQL/firebird#8809) https://github.com/FirebirdSQL/firebird/issues/8809#issuecomment-3571433333
I wouldn't rush to implement operators not included in the SQL standard. Some DBMSs are now paying the price for initially poor decisions. For example, MySQL once made the |||| operator similar to the |OR| operator for "convenience." Now, instead of the standard string concatenation operator, they have to deal with the |CONCAT| function.Very good argument.
+1
Moreover, we have a lot of not implemented standard features.
