CentralNotice Bit field From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search A bit field is a term used in computer programming to store multiple, logical, neighboring bits , where each of the sets of bits, and single bits can be addressed. A bit field is most commonly used to represent integral types of known, fixed bit-width. A well-known usage of bit-fields is to represent a set of bits, and/or series of bits, known as flags . [ citation needed ] For example, the first bit in a bit field can be used to determine the state of a particular attribute associated with the bit field. A bit field is distinguished from a bit array in that the latter is used to store a large set of bits indexed by integers and is often wider than any integral type supported by the language. Bit fields, on the other hand, typically fit within a machine word , and the denotation o...