#! /usr/bin/env python2 def printbits(n): if n < 2: return str(n & 1) rest = n >> 1 d = n & 1 return printbits(rest) + str(d) def modifybit(n): return 1 << n test = 0b10010101111 print bin(test) print bin(test | modifybit(3)) # bin((1 << 6) - 2) #print bin(1292002343) #print printbits(1292002343)