C++ Exercises: Get the column number that corresponds to a column title as appear in an Excel sheet

Last update on April 12 2025 12:59:12 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

8. Excel Column Number from Title

Write a C++ program to get the column number (integer value) that corresponds to a column title as it appears on an Excel sheet.

For example:
A -> 1
B -> 2
C -> 3
...
Z -> 26
AA -> 27
AB -> 28
...

Sample Solution:

C++ Code :

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// Function to convert Excel column title to a corresponding number
int excel_title_to_Number(string s) {
    int number = 0; // Initialize the resulting number to 0
    for (const auto& c : s) { // Loop through each character in the input string
        number *= 26; // Multiply the number by 26 (Excel's base)
        number += c - 'A' + 1; // Convert the character to its corresponding numeric value and add to the result
    }
    return number; // Return the calculated number
}

int main(void) {
    // Test cases to convert Excel column titles to numbers
    string col_title1 = "C";
    cout << "\nExcel column title = " << col_title1 << ", Corresponding number = " << excel_title_to_Number(col_title1) << endl;

    col_title1 = "AD";
    cout << "\nExcel column title = " << col_title1 << ", Corresponding number = " << excel_title_to_Number(col_title1) << endl;

    col_title1 = "WX";
    cout << "\nExcel column title = " << col_title1 << ", Corresponding number = " << excel_title_to_Number(col_title1) << endl;

    return 0; // Return 0 to indicate successful completion
}

Sample Output:

Excel column title = C, Corresponding number = 3

Excel column title = AD, Corresponding number = 30

Excel column title = WX, Corresponding number = 622

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a C++ program to convert an Excel column title into its corresponding column number by processing each character and calculating its positional value.
• Write a C++ program that reads a string representing an Excel column title and computes the column number using a loop.
• Write a C++ program to implement a function that converts Excel column titles to numbers, handling both uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Write a C++ program that takes multiple Excel column titles as input and outputs their corresponding numbers in a vector.

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