Programming Riddle: How might you translate an Excel column name to a number?

Question

I was recently asked in a job interview to resolve a programming puzzle that I thought it would be interesting to share. It\'s about translating Excel column letters to actu

Answer 1

Here's a CFML one:

    
    
    

    
        
    

    



    #ColToNum('AABCCE')#

And because I'm in an odd mood, here's a CFScript version:

function ColToNum ( Input )
{
    var Total = 0;

    for ( var Pos = 1 ; Pos <= Len(Arguments.Input) ; Pos++ )
    {
        Total += 26^(Pos-1) * ( Asc( UCase( Mid(Arguments.Input,Pos,1) ) ) - 64 );
    }

    return Total;
}

WriteOutput( ColToNum('AABCCE') );