XOR Gate – Definition, Symbol, Diagram

The XOR gate is used extensively in digital data processing circuits and is known as the Exclusive-OR gate. The XOR gate has a high output only when an odd number of inputs are high. For example, for the two input XOR gates, the output will be high when the set of input is either 01 or 10.

The ability of the XOR gate to compare two logic levels and give an output dependent upon the input condition is advantageous in many computational circuits. Though it is not a basic logic gate, its versatility and usefulness have made it into a standard logic gate.

XOR gate (sometimes called as EOR, EXOR, and pronounced as the Exclusive OR) is the digital logic gate that results in true (either 1 or HIGH) output when the number of true inputs is the odd count. An XOR gate implements the exclusive OR that is a true output result if one of the inputs of the gate inputs is true.

The 2-input XOR gate is also recognized as the Inclusive-OR gate because when both inputs, say A and B, are set to logic one(high), the output appears as “0” or low that is, in the XOR function, the logic output “1” is achieved only when either A = ” 1″ or B = ” 1″ but not both together at the same point.

An exclusive OR gate (XOR gate) is the digital logic gate implemented using the transistors to act as an electronic switch used in implementing Boolean functions. It is built by combining standard logic gates such as the common NAND and NOR gates in order to produce the more complex function of this gate.