How to convert a column number (eg. 127) into an e

Question

How do you convert a numerical number to an Excel column name in C# without using automation getting the value directly from Excel.

Excel 2007 has a possible range of 1 to 16384, which is the number of columns that it supports. The resulting values should be in the form of excel column names, e.g. A, AA, AAA etc.

Answer 1

In perl, for an input of 1 (A), 27 (AA), etc.

sub excel_colname {
  my ($idx) = @_;       # one-based column number
  --$idx;               # zero-based column index
  my $name = "";
  while ($idx >= 0) {
    $name .= chr(ord("A") + ($idx % 26));
    $idx   = int($idx / 26) - 1;
  }
  return scalar reverse $name;
}

Answer 2

I'm using this one in VB.NET 2003 and it works well...

Private Function GetExcelColumnName(ByVal aiColNumber As Integer) As String
    Dim BaseValue As Integer = Convert.ToInt32(("A").Chars(0)) - 1
    Dim lsReturn As String = String.Empty

    If (aiColNumber > 26) Then
        lsReturn = GetExcelColumnName(Convert.ToInt32((Format(aiColNumber / 26, "0.0").Split("."))(0)))
    End If

    GetExcelColumnName = lsReturn + Convert.ToChar(BaseValue + (aiColNumber Mod 26))
End Function

Answer 3

..And converted to php:

function GetExcelColumnName($columnNumber) {
    $columnName = '';
    while ($columnNumber > 0) {
        $modulo = ($columnNumber - 1) % 26;
        $columnName = chr(65 + $modulo) . $columnName;
        $columnNumber = (int)(($columnNumber - $modulo) / 26);
    }
    return $columnName;
}

Answer 4

I wanted to throw in my static class I use, for interoping between col index and col Label. I use a modified accepted answer for my ColumnLabel Method

public static class Extensions
{
    public static string ColumnLabel(this int col)
    {
        var dividend = col;
        var columnLabel = string.Empty;
        int modulo;

        while (dividend > 0)
        {
            modulo = (dividend - 1) % 26;
            columnLabel = Convert.ToChar(65 + modulo).ToString() + columnLabel;
            dividend = (int)((dividend - modulo) / 26);
        } 

        return columnLabel;
    }
    public static int ColumnIndex(this string colLabel)
    {
        // "AD" (1 * 26^1) + (4 * 26^0) ...
        var colIndex = 0;
        for(int ind = 0, pow = colLabel.Count()-1; ind < colLabel.Count(); ++ind, --pow)
        {
            var cVal = Convert.ToInt32(colLabel[ind]) - 64; //col A is index 1
            colIndex += cVal * ((int)Math.Pow(26, pow));
        }
        return colIndex;
    }
}

Use this like...

30.ColumnLabel(); // "AD"
"AD".ColumnIndex(); // 30

Answer 5

Here is an Actionscript version:

private var columnNumbers:Array = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F' , 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K' ,'L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z'];

    private function getExcelColumnName(columnNumber:int) : String{
        var dividend:int = columnNumber;
        var columnName:String = "";
        var modulo:int;

        while (dividend > 0)
        {
            modulo = (dividend - 1) % 26;
            columnName = columnNumbers[modulo] + columnName;
            dividend = int((dividend - modulo) / 26);
        } 

        return columnName;
    }

Answer 6

A little late to the game, but here's the code I use (in C#):

private static readonly string _Alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
public static int ColumnNameParse(string value)
{
    // assumes value.Length is [1,3]
    // assumes value is uppercase
    var digits = value.PadLeft(3).Select(x => _Alphabet.IndexOf(x));
    return digits.Aggregate(0, (current, index) => (current * 26) + (index + 1));
}