Flip a specific bit in an integer

Given a non-negative integer num and a zero-based bit position p, return the integer resulting from flipping only the bit at position p (i.e., 0 becomes 1, 1 becomes 0). Explain your approach and its time/space complexity.

Flip a Specific Bit in an Integer

Given a non-negative integer num and a zero-based bit position p, return the integer that results from flipping ONLY the bit at position p (a 0 becomes 1, a 1 becomes 0). All other bits remain unchanged.

The bit at position p has place value 2^p. Flipping it is a classic application of the XOR operator: XOR-ing any bit with 1 toggles it, while XOR-ing with 0 leaves it unchanged. So building a mask with a single 1 at position p (1 << p) and XOR-ing it with num flips exactly that one bit.

Example: num = 5 (binary 101), p = 1. The mask 1 << 1 is 010. 101 ^ 010 = 111 = 7.

Return the resulting integer.

Constraints

• 0 <= num (non-negative integer)
• 0 <= p (zero-based bit position)
• Flipping a bit at a position beyond num's highest set bit simply sets that bit to 1.
• Python integers are arbitrary-precision, so very large p values are handled natively.

Hints

1. Which bitwise operator toggles a bit: AND, OR, or XOR? Recall that x ^ 1 = NOT x and x ^ 0 = x.
2. Build a mask with a single 1 at position p using a left shift: 1 << p.
3. XOR the number with that mask: num ^ (1 << p). This flips only the targeted bit and leaves every other bit untouched, in O(1) time and space.