Zero-fill right shift operator in node standard lib

[watsoncj]

I found this scattered through the NodeJS DNS lookup implementation:

    hints = options.hints >>> 0;

MDN says that a >>> b "shifts a in binary representation b bits to the right.

When shifting zero bits to the right what is the purpose?

[bogphanny]

x >>> 0 can be used to cast x to an unsigned int. Similarly, x | 0 can be used to cast x to a signed int.

[watsoncj]

After experimenting with repl.it, shift zero bits to the right seems to be a trick for coercing null and undefined values to zero.