What is the purpose of the ^ operator in JavaScript?

In JavaScript, the `^` operator is the bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) operator. It performs a bitwise XOR operation on the individual bits of two integers. The result is a new integer whose bits are set to 1 where the corresponding bits of the operands differ and set to 0 where the corresponding bits are the same.

Here's a basic example of the bitwise XOR operator in action:

let num1 = 5;  // Binary: 0101

let num2 = 3;  // Binary: 0011

let result = num1 ^ num2;  // Bitwise XOR

console.log(result);  // Outputs: 6 (Binary: 0110)

Explanation:

- `num1` in binary is `0101`.

- `num2` in binary is `0011`.

- The bitwise XOR operation compares each pair of corresponding bits. If the bits are different, the result has a `1` in that position; otherwise, it has a `0`.

- In this example, the result is `0110` in binary, which is `6` in decimal.

The `^` operator is often used in scenarios where specific bits in an integer need to be toggled or compared.

It's important to note that when working with bitwise operations, the values involved are treated as 32-bit signed integers in two's complement form in JavaScript. If you perform bitwise operations on non-integer values, JavaScript converts them to integers before the operation.