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

Coincidentally I've solved the same problem using javascript

$(function() { //shorthand document.ready function
    var getNumber = function(x) {
        var result = 0;
        var multiplier = 1;
        for ( var i = x.length-1; i >= 0; i--)
        { 
            var value = ((x[i].charCodeAt(0) - "A".charCodeAt(0)) + 1);
            result = result + value * multiplier;
            multiplier = multiplier * 26;
        }
        return result;
    };
    
    $('#form').on('submit', function(e) { //use on if jQuery 1.7+
        e.preventDefault();  //prevent form from submitting
        var data = $("#number").val();
        $('#answer').text(getNumber(data));
    });
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<form id="form">
<input type="text" id="number"></input>
    <button>submit</button>
</form>
<p id="answer"></p>

    var getNumber = function(x) {
        var result = 0;
        var multiplier = 1;
        for ( var i = x.length-1; i >= 0; i--)
        { 
            var value = ((x[i].charCodeAt(0) - "A".charCodeAt(0)) + 1);
            result = result + value * multiplier;
            multiplier = multiplier * 26;
        }
        return result;
    };

http://jsfiddle.net/M7Xty/1/

Answer 2

def ExcelColumnToNumber(ColumnName):
    ColNum = 0
    for i in range(0, len(ColumnName)):
        # Easier once formula determined: 'PositionValue * Base^Position'
        # i.e. AA=(1*26^1)+(1*26^0)   or  792=(7*10^2)+(9*10^1)+(2*10^0)
        ColNum += (int(ColumnName[i],36) -9) * (pow(26, len(ColumnName)-i-1))
    return ColNum

p.s. My first Python script!

Answer 3

Common Lisp:

(defun excel->number (string)
  "Converts an Excel column name to a column number."
  (reduce (lambda (a b) (+ (* a 26) b))
          string
          :key (lambda (x) (- (char-int x) 64))))

edit: the inverse operation:

(defun number->excel (number &optional acc)
  "Converts a column number to Excel column name."
  (if (zerop number)
      (concatenate 'string acc)
      (multiple-value-bind (rest current) (floor number 26)
        (if (zerop current)
            (number->excel (- rest 1) (cons #\Z acc))
            (number->excel rest (cons (code-char (+ current 64)) acc))))))

Answer 4

In Python, without reduce:

def transform(column_string):
    return sum((ascii_uppercase.index(letter)+1) * 26**position for position, letter in enumerate(column_string[::-1]))

Answer 5

In Mathematica:

FromDigits[ToCharacterCode@# - 64, 26] &

Answer 6

Assuming column A = 1

int GetColumnNumber(string columnName)
{
  int sum = 0;
  int exponent = 0;
  for(int i = columnName.Length - 1; i>=0; i--)
  {
    sum += (columnName[i] - 'A' + 1) *  (GetPower(26, exponent));
    exponent++;
  }
  return sum;
}

int GetPower(int number, int exponent)
{
  int power = 1;
  for(int i=0; i<exponent; i++)
    power *= number;
  return power;
}