For example, take a four-bit barrel shifter, with inputs A, B, C and D. The shifter can cycle the order of the bits "ABCD" as "DABC", "CDAB", or "BCDA"; in this case, no bits are lost. That is, it can shift all of the outputs up to three positions to the right (and thus make any cyclic combination of A, B, C and D). The barrel shifter has a variety of applications, including being a useful component in microprocessors (alongside the ALU).