Convert an A1-style spreadsheet column label to a number.

Version 1.12.0.0 (2.35 KB) by DS
ABC2NUM translates an A1-style (absolute) column label reference to a number; NUM2ABC does inverse.
5.0
(1)
1.7K Downloads
Updated 23 Mar 2012

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ABC2NUM(S) returns the number corresponding to the spreadsheet column represented by the reference string, S. The input string, S, may contain the ascii letters A-Z, in the format commonly employed by spreadsheet programs such as Calc and Microsoft Excel[1]. Other characters, including lower case letters, a-z, are ignored.

NUM2ABC(D) returns the A1-style string label corresponding to the appropriate spreadsheet column represented by the specified integer, D. The specified integer must be greater than or equal to one.

references:
[1] Abraham, R., Burnett, M. and Erwig, M., "Spreadsheet Programming" Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering, (ed. B.J. Wah), 2804-2810, 2009
DOI: 10.1002/9780470050118.ecse415

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Please note: There are many interesting submissions on FEX which provide similar results (see below).

#5942 - xlcolumn
#32843 - Excel column header
#30180 - Calculate Excel range
#28343 - Column Converter for Excel
#27182 - Excel Column Conversion
#15748 - Excel Column Number To Column Name
#12796 - excelcolumn
#6706 - Excel Named Ranges

Cite As

DS (2026). Convert an A1-style spreadsheet column label to a number. (https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/14008-convert-an-a1-style-spreadsheet-column-label-to-a-number), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2007b
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux
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Acknowledgements

Inspired by: Convert decimal integer to arbitrary base.

Version Published Release Notes
1.12.0.0

Edited info text; no code changes.
1.11.0.0

Edited info text; no code changes.
1.10.0.0

Edited info text; no code changes.
1.9.0.0

Added ref info.
1.3.0.0

.
1.2.0.0

Extended translation to cover arbitrary number of digits; included complementary function num2abc.
1.1.0.0

fixed string output
1.0.0.0

Fixed m-lint warnings.