Which are mutually exclusive:Bit fields or formatting flags? In c++

Question

I was reading about formatting flags and the groups which they belongs to ( called bitfields) and a statement reads that:-

there are three bit fields and each has a group of format flags which are mutually exclusive

So my question is the term " mutually exclusive " is for format flags or bitfields? and what is its meaning actually? Thanks!

Answer 1

The term means that if you have a set of conditions or states (the implementation isn't important) then only one of them can be 'true' or set at any one time.