Do you mean you want the ASCII code of $a? If so, use ord and some extra brackets: 
my $a = "a";
if ( (ord($a) & 1) << 7) {print "happy\n"}

[download]

Update: 

if ( ord($a) & (1 << 7) ) {print "happy\n"}

[download]

seems to make more sense

In reply to Re: Warnings and bitwise and by FunkyMonk
in thread Warnings and bitwise and by MedicLdr

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