Code Golf: Numeric equivalent of an Excel column name

Answer 1

k4 (kdb+), 11 characters

26/:1+.Q.A?

Explanation:

• k4 parses left of right
• .Q.A is defined within k4 - it is the vector "ABC...XYZ"
• ? is the find operator - the index of the first match for items in the y arg within the x arg
• +1 to offset the index
• 26/: to convert to base 26

One caveat - this will only work where listed types are passed in:

  26/:1+.Q.A? "AD"
30

  26/:1+.Q.A? "WTF"
16074

but:

  26/:1+.Q.A? ,"A"
1

Answer 2

Common Lisp, 81 characters

(defun y(s)(reduce(lambda(x y)(+(* 26 x)(-(char-code y)64)))s :initial-value 0))

Funny that as a new user I can post my own answer but not comment on someone else's. Oh well, apologies if I'm doing this wrong!

Answer 3

Golfscript - 16 chars

[0]\+{31&\26*+}*


$ echo -n WTF | ./golfscript.rb excel.gs
16074
$ echo -n ROFL | ./golfscript.rb excel.gs
326676

Answer 4

Scala, 30 chars

print((0/:args(0))(_*26+_-64))" 

Example:

C:\>scala -e "print((0/:args(0))(_*26+_-64))" AD
30

Answer 5

Perl, 36 34 33 31 30 17 15 11 characters

$_=()=A..$_

Usage:

$ echo -n WTF | perl -ple '$_=()=A..$_'
16074

Reduced to 17 by using echo -n to avoid a chop call.

Reduced to 15 by using say instead of print.

Reduced to 11 by using -p instead of say.

Explanation: A is evaluated in string context and A..$_ builds a list starting at "A" and string-incrementing up to the input string. Perl interprets the ++ operator (and thus ..) on strings in an alphabetic context, so for example $_="AZ";$_++;print outputs BA.

=()= (aka "goatse" operator) forces an expression to be evaluated in list context, and returns the number of elements returned by that expression i.e., $scalar = () = <expr> corresponds to @list = <expr>; $scalar = @list.

Answer 6

Ruby 1.8.7, 53 50 46 44 24 17 characters

p ('A'..$_).count

Usage:

$ echo -n ROFL | ruby -n a.rb
326676
$ echo -n WTF | ruby -n a.rb
16074
$ echo -n A | ruby -n a.rb
1