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Reassigning a value to a character array not working

I am currently having issues reassigning a value to a character array. Below is my code (unfinished solution to find the next smallest palindrome):
public int nextSmallestPalindrome(int number)
{
string numberString = number.ToString();
// Case 1: Palindrome is all 9s
for (int i = 0; i < numberString.Length; i++)
{
if (numberString[i] != '9')
{
break;
}
int result = number + 2;
return result;
}
// Case 2: Is a palindrome
int high = numberString.Length - 1;
int low = 0;
bool isPalindrome = true;
for (low = 0; low <= high; low++, high--)
{
if (numberString[low] != numberString[high])
{
isPalindrome = false;
break;
}
}
char[] array = numberString.ToCharArray();
if (isPalindrome == true)
{
// While the middle character is 9
while (numberString[high] == '9' || numberString[low] == '9')
{
array[high] = '0';
array[low] = '0';
high++;
low--;
}
int replacedvalue1 = (int)Char.GetNumericValue(numberString[high]) + 1;
int replacedvalue2 = (int)Char.GetNumericValue(numberString[low]) + 1;
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(new string(array));
if (high == low)
{
result[high] = (char)replacedvalue1;
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine(result.ToString());
result[high] = (char)replacedvalue1;
Console.WriteLine(result.ToString());
result[low] = (char)replacedvalue2;
}
return Int32.Parse(result.ToString());
}
else return -1;
}
Main class runs:
Console.WriteLine(nextSmallestPalindrome(1001));
This returns 1001, then 101 and then gives a formatexception at the return Int32.Parse(result.ToString()); statement.
I am very confused, as I believe "result" should be 1101 after I assign result[high] = (char)replacedvalue1;. Printing replacedvalue1 gives me "1" as expected. However, debugging it line by line shows that "1001" turns into "1 1" at the end, signifying strange characters.
What could be going wrong?
Thanks

Characters and numbers aren't the same thing. I find it easiest to keep an ASCII chart open when doing this sort of thing.
If you look at one of those charts, you'll see that the character 0 actually has a decimal value of 48.
char c = (char)48; // Equals the character '0'
The reverse is also true:
char c = '0';
int i = (int)c; // Equals the number 48
You managed to keep chars and ints separate for the most part, but at the end you got them mixed up:
// Char.GetNumericValue('0') will return the number 0
// so now replacedvalue1 will equal 1
int replacedvalue1 = (int)Char.GetNumericValue(numberString[high]) + 1;
// You are casting the number 1 to a character, which according to the
// ASCII chart is the (unprintable) character SOH (start of heading)
result[high] = (char)replacedvalue1;
FYI you don't actually need to cast a char back-and-forth in order to perform operations on it. char c = 'a'; c++; is valid, and will equal the next character on the table ('b'). Similarly you can increment numeric characters:
char c = '0'; c++; // c now equals '1'
Edit: The easiest way to turn an integer 1 into the character '1' is to "add" the integer to the character '0':
result[high] = (char)('0' + replacedvalue1);
Of course there are much easier ways to accomplish what you are trying to do, but these techniques (converting and adding chars and ints) are good tools to know.

You do not have write that much code to do it.
Here is your IsPalindrome method;
private static bool IsPalindrome(int n)
{
string ns = n.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
var reversed = string.Join("", ns.Reverse());
return (ns == reversed);
}
private static int FindTheNextSmallestPalindrome(int x)
{
for (int i = x; i < 2147483647; i++)
{
if (IsPalindrome(i))
{
return i;
}
}
throw new Exception("Number must be less than 2147483647");
}
This is how you call it. You do not need an array to call it. You can just enter any number which is less than 2147483647(max value of int) and get the next palindrome value.
var mynumbers = new[] {10, 101, 120, 110, 1001};
foreach (var mynumber in mynumbers)
{
Console.WriteLine(FindTheNextPalindrome(mynumber));
}

C# Code Verification Program

Alright so I am making a program to verify a 4 digit code.
The computer generates a 4 digit code
The user types in a 4 digit code. Their guess.
the computer tells them how many digits are
guessed correctly in the correct place and how many digits have
been guessed correctly but in the wrong place.
The user gets 12 guesses to either win – guess the right code. Or
lose – run out of guesses.
So basically, my program doesn't seem to actually verify whether the code is correct but i cant see why not because i have if and for loops for verification, please take a look.
class Program
{
public static Random random = new Random();
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int DigitOne = random.Next(0, 10);
int DigitTwo = random.Next(0, 10);
int DigitThree = random.Next(0, 10);
int DigitFour = random.Next(0, 10);
byte[] code = new byte[4];
code[0] = Convert.ToByte(DigitOne);
code[1] = Convert.ToByte(DigitTwo);
code[2] = Convert.ToByte(DigitThree);
code[3] = Convert.ToByte(DigitFour);
bool CodeCorrect = false;
Console.WriteLine(code[0] +""+ code[1] +""+ code[2]+""+code [3] );
Console.WriteLine("You have 12 guesses before you will be permenantly locked out.\n");
int AmountOfGuesses = 0;
while (AmountOfGuesses < 12 && !CodeCorrect)
{
Console.WriteLine("Enter 4 digit code to unlock the safe: ");
int[] UserCode = new int[4];
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
UserCode[i] = Convert.ToInt32(Console.Read()) - 48;
}
if (UserCode.Length != 4)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error. Try Again.\n");
}
else
{
int UserDigitOne = UserCode[0];
int UserDigitTwo = UserCode[1];
int UserDigitThree = UserCode[2];
int UserDigitFour = UserCode[3];
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
if (UserCode[i] == code[i])
{
Console.WriteLine("The digit at position " + (i + 1) + " is correct.");
}
}
if (UserCode[0] == code[0] && UserCode[1] == code[1] && UserCode[2] == code[2] && UserCode[3] == code[3])
{
CodeCorrect = true;
Console.WriteLine("Code Correct. Safe unlocked.");
}
}
AmountOfGuesses++;
}
if (AmountOfGuesses > 12)
{
Console.WriteLine("Code Incorrect. Safe Locked permenantly.");
}
Console.ReadLine();
}

If you step through the code after it generated the number 1246, and then input the same number from the command line, convert it to a char array, then convert each char to a byte, you'll get the following four bytes:
49 50 52 54
These correspond to the ASCII representations of each char, NOT the actual numbers.
Try something like this:
int[] input = new int[4];
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++ )
{
input[i] = Convert.ToInt32(Console.Read()) - 48;
}
The -48 should turn your ASCII code into the actual numerical representation that was provided. Console.Read() reads individual characters rather than the full line.
Also, you don't have to say:
CodeCorrect == false
This is more simply represented as:
!CodeCorrect
Similarly, if it was set to true, it would just be:
CodeCorrect
I also suggest using a for loop to set multiple elements in an array rather than manually writing out each line of code. It's not a big deal for small arrays, but it's good practice.
UPDATE: Here's a revised version of the full program:
class Program
{
public static Random random = new Random();
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] randCombination = new int[4];
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
randCombination[i] = random.Next(0, 10);
Console.Write(randCombination[i].ToString());
}
bool CodeCorrect = false;
Console.WriteLine("\nYou have 12 guesses before you will be permenantly locked out.\n");
int AmountOfGuesses = 0;
while(AmountOfGuesses < 12 && !CodeCorrect)
{
Console.WriteLine("Enter 4 digit code to unlock the safe: ");
int[] UserCode = new int[4];
string input = Console.ReadLine();
int n;
bool isNumeric = int.TryParse(input, out n);
int correctCount = 0;
if(input.Length != 4 || !isNumeric)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error. Input code was not a 4 digit number.\n");
}
else
{
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
UserCode[i] = Convert.ToInt32(input[i]) - 48;
if(UserCode[i] == randCombination[i])
{
Console.WriteLine("The digit at position " + (i + 1) + " is correct.");
correctCount++;
}
}
if(correctCount == 4)
{
CodeCorrect = true;
Console.WriteLine("Code Correct. Safe unlocked.");
}
}
AmountOfGuesses++;
}
if(AmountOfGuesses >= 12)
{
Console.WriteLine("Code Incorrect. Safe Locked permenantly.");
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
A couple of things were changed:
Added a for loop at the top that generates a random number, enters it into an array of ints and then prints it to standard output.
I changed the way user input is read back to the Console.ReadLine(). The reason for this is to check if the user inputted a four digit integer. the int.TryParse statement makes sure the input is an int, and the Length property checks the length.
I also used a counter to count each correct guess. If 4 correct digit guesses were made, the safe is unlocked.
Your final if statement would never have evaluated because Amount of Guesses would equal 12, not be greater than it. Changed it to >= from >. Always be on the lookout for small things like this.
EDIT #2: For more information on int.TryParse, see the following:
http://www.dotnetperls.com/int-tryparse
How the int.TryParse actually works

You are comparing numbers with the character representation of a number. Each value of code[] represents an actual number. You then compare those values with the values in UserCode which is a string, meaning there is a character at each index. It is never the case that ((byte)'4') == ((byte)4) (using 4 as an example, but works for any numerical digit).
One way around this is to parse each user input character into a byte using the byte.Parse method.
For fun learning purposes look at the output from the following code:
for (char i = '0'; i <= '9'; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine("char: " + i + "; value: " + ((byte)i));
}
The output is actually:
char: 0; value: 48
char: 1; value: 49
char: 2; value: 50
char: 3; value: 51
char: 4; value: 52
char: 5; value: 53
char: 6; value: 54
char: 7; value: 55
char: 8; value: 56
char: 9; value: 57
This is due to string encoding.
I would also recommend that one you have your code working that you submit it to the fine folks at the Code Review site to review other aspects of the code which could use work.

How to convert this hex string into a long?

I have: "0xE94C827CEB" in hex but as a string.
Which is: 1002011000043 (dd mm yyyy HH mm ss)
Unfortunately I don't know how to do the conversion if I only have it in string format, and I don't have a Convert.ToLong("0xE94C827CEB", 16) function because I'm using the .NET Micro Framework (also, don't have NumberStyles namespace available.)
Is there a function out there that will convert this for me?
Thanks

For those of you looking for the answer using the full .NET framework for pc.
long answer = Convert.ToInt64("E94C827CEB",16);
see: MSDN Documentation

I don't know of any function to do it, but I think you can do it quite simply by splitting the hex string and passing each part through Convert.ToInt32():
int part1 = Convert.ToInt32("E9", 16)
int part2 = Convert.ToInt32("4C827CEB", 16) //the last 4 bytes
long result = part1 * 4294967296 + part2 //4294967296 being 2^32. Result = 1002011000043

Kick it old-school and roll your your own. This is not exactly rocket science here:
public ulong HexLiteral2Unsigned( string hex )
{
if ( string.IsNullOrEmpty(hex) ) throw new ArgumentException("hex") ;
int i = hex.Length > 1 && hex[0]=='0' && (hex[1]=='x'||hex[1]=='X') ? 2 : 0 ;
ulong value = 0 ;
while ( i < hex.Length )
{
uint x = hex[i++] ;
if ( x >= '0' && x <= '9' ) x = x - '0' ;
else if ( x >= 'A' && x <= 'F' ) x = ( x - 'A' ) + 10 ;
else if ( x >= 'a' && x <= 'f' ) x = ( x - 'a' ) + 10 ;
else throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("hex") ;
value = 16*value + x ;
}
return value ;
}

using the bit shift operators can clean up some of this code --
static long HexToLong(string hexString)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(hexString))
{
hexString = hexString.Trim();
if (hexString.StartsWith("0x"))
hexString = hexString.Substring(2);
if (hexString.Length > 16)
throw new FormatException("Input string is too long");
hexString = hexString.PadLeft(16, '0'); // ensure proper length -- pad the leading zeros
int part1 = Convert.ToInt32(hexString.Substring(0, 8), 16); // first 4 bytes
int part2 = Convert.ToInt32(hexString.Substring(8, 8), 16);//the last 4 bytes
return (part1 << 8 * 4) + part2; // slide it on over -- 8 bits per byte
}
return 0;
}
There you go

Incrementation of char

I found some question asking how to let char 'B' to return 'C' and then 'D' etc. The answers were quite complex and mostly just overkill.
Why not to use simply this:
char X='A';
X++;
EDIT: It goes from A to Z and what next?

If you just want to increment :
Char x = 'A';
Char y = (Char)(Convert.ToUInt16(x) + 1);
But, if you want an excel like column :
// (1 = A, 2 = B...27 = AA...703 = AAA...)
public static string GetColNameFromIndex(int columnNumber)
{
int dividend = columnNumber;
string columnName = String.Empty;
int modulo;
while (dividend > 0)
{
modulo = (dividend - 1) % 26;
columnName = Convert.ToChar(65 + modulo).ToString() + columnName;
dividend = (int)((dividend - modulo) / 26);
}
return columnName;
}
// (A = 1, B = 2...AA = 27...AAA = 703...)
public static int GetColNumberFromName(string columnName)
{
char[] characters = columnName.ToUpperInvariant().ToCharArray();
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < characters.Length; i++)
{
sum *= 26;
sum += (characters[i] - 'A' + 1);
}
return sum;
}

If you're happy with the results that gives, then that's fine.
Usually when I've seen questions like that, they want to wrap from "Z" to "AA" or something like that that though - like Excel columns. Clearly just incrementing a char won't do that - it would go to '['.
Alternatively, even within a single character, the range of valid values may be non-contiguous - the obvious example being hex. If you increment '9' you get ':' instead of the 'a' or 'A' which you probably wanted. The desired order is rarely "whatever Unicode gives you".

Probably because it is also intended to go from Z to AA, ala Perl and PHP.

How to convert a column number (e.g. 127) into an Excel column (e.g. AA)

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.

Here's how I do it:
private string GetExcelColumnName(int columnNumber)
{
string columnName = "";
while (columnNumber > 0)
{
int modulo = (columnNumber - 1) % 26;
columnName = Convert.ToChar('A' + modulo) + columnName;
columnNumber = (columnNumber - modulo) / 26;
}
return columnName;
}

If anyone needs to do this in Excel without VBA, here is a way:
=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(1;colNum;4);"1";"")
where colNum is the column number
And in VBA:
Function GetColumnName(colNum As Integer) As String
Dim d As Integer
Dim m As Integer
Dim name As String
d = colNum
name = ""
Do While (d > 0)
m = (d - 1) Mod 26
name = Chr(65 + m) + name
d = Int((d - m) / 26)
Loop
GetColumnName = name
End Function

You might need conversion both ways, e.g from Excel column adress like AAZ to integer and from any integer to Excel. The two methods below will do just that. Assumes 1 based indexing, first element in your "arrays" are element number 1.
No limits on size here, so you can use adresses like ERROR and that would be column number 2613824 ...
public static string ColumnAdress(int col)
{
if (col <= 26) {
return Convert.ToChar(col + 64).ToString();
}
int div = col / 26;
int mod = col % 26;
if (mod == 0) {mod = 26;div--;}
return ColumnAdress(div) + ColumnAdress(mod);
}
public static int ColumnNumber(string colAdress)
{
int[] digits = new int[colAdress.Length];
for (int i = 0; i < colAdress.Length; ++i)
{
digits[i] = Convert.ToInt32(colAdress[i]) - 64;
}
int mul=1;int res=0;
for (int pos = digits.Length - 1; pos >= 0; --pos)
{
res += digits[pos] * mul;
mul *= 26;
}
return res;
}

Sorry, this is Python instead of C#, but at least the results are correct:
def ColIdxToXlName(idx):
if idx < 1:
raise ValueError("Index is too small")
result = ""
while True:
if idx > 26:
idx, r = divmod(idx - 1, 26)
result = chr(r + ord('A')) + result
else:
return chr(idx + ord('A') - 1) + result
for i in xrange(1, 1024):
print "%4d : %s" % (i, ColIdxToXlName(i))

I discovered an error in my first post, so I decided to sit down and do the the math. What I found is that the number system used to identify Excel columns is not a base 26 system, as another person posted. Consider the following in base 10. You can also do this with the letters of the alphabet.
Space:.........................S1, S2, S3 : S1, S2, S3
....................................0, 00, 000 :.. A, AA, AAA
....................................1, 01, 001 :.. B, AB, AAB
.................................... …, …, … :.. …, …, …
....................................9, 99, 999 :.. Z, ZZ, ZZZ
Total states in space: 10, 100, 1000 : 26, 676, 17576
Total States:...............1110................18278
Excel numbers columns in the individual alphabetical spaces using base 26. You can see that in general, the state space progression is a, a^2, a^3, … for some base a, and the total number of states is a + a^2 + a^3 + … .
Suppose you want to find the total number of states A in the first N spaces. The formula for doing so is A = (a)(a^N - 1 )/(a-1). This is important because we need to find the space N that corresponds to our index K. If I want to find out where K lies in the number system I need to replace A with K and solve for N. The solution is N = log{base a} (A (a-1)/a +1). If I use the example of a = 10 and K = 192, I know that N = 2.23804… . This tells me that K lies at the beginning of the third space since it is a little greater than two.
The next step is to find exactly how far in the current space we are. To find this, subtract from K the A generated using the floor of N. In this example, the floor of N is two. So, A = (10)(10^2 – 1)/(10-1) = 110, as is expected when you combine the states of the first two spaces. This needs to be subtracted from K because these first 110 states would have already been accounted for in the first two spaces. This leaves us with 82 states. So, in this number system, the representation of 192 in base 10 is 082.
The C# code using a base index of zero is
private string ExcelColumnIndexToName(int Index)
{
string range = string.Empty;
if (Index < 0 ) return range;
int a = 26;
int x = (int)Math.Floor(Math.Log((Index) * (a - 1) / a + 1, a));
Index -= (int)(Math.Pow(a, x) - 1) * a / (a - 1);
for (int i = x+1; Index + i > 0; i--)
{
range = ((char)(65 + Index % a)).ToString() + range;
Index /= a;
}
return range;
}
//Old Post
A zero-based solution in C#.
private string ExcelColumnIndexToName(int Index)
{
string range = "";
if (Index < 0 ) return range;
for(int i=1;Index + i > 0;i=0)
{
range = ((char)(65 + Index % 26)).ToString() + range;
Index /= 26;
}
if (range.Length > 1) range = ((char)((int)range[0] - 1)).ToString() + range.Substring(1);
return range;
}

This answer is in javaScript:
function getCharFromNumber(columnNumber){
var dividend = columnNumber;
var columnName = "";
var modulo;
while (dividend > 0)
{
modulo = (dividend - 1) % 26;
columnName = String.fromCharCode(65 + modulo).toString() + columnName;
dividend = parseInt((dividend - modulo) / 26);
}
return columnName;
}

Easy with recursion.
public static string GetStandardExcelColumnName(int columnNumberOneBased)
{
int baseValue = Convert.ToInt32('A');
int columnNumberZeroBased = columnNumberOneBased - 1;
string ret = "";
if (columnNumberOneBased > 26)
{
ret = GetStandardExcelColumnName(columnNumberZeroBased / 26) ;
}
return ret + Convert.ToChar(baseValue + (columnNumberZeroBased % 26) );
}

I'm surprised all of the solutions so far contain either iteration or recursion.
Here's my solution that runs in constant time (no loops). This solution works for all possible Excel columns and checks that the input can be turned into an Excel column. Possible columns are in the range [A, XFD] or [1, 16384]. (This is dependent on your version of Excel)
private static string Turn(uint col)
{
if (col < 1 || col > 16384) //Excel columns are one-based (one = 'A')
throw new ArgumentException("col must be >= 1 and <= 16384");
if (col <= 26) //one character
return ((char)(col + 'A' - 1)).ToString();
else if (col <= 702) //two characters
{
char firstChar = (char)((int)((col - 1) / 26) + 'A' - 1);
char secondChar = (char)(col % 26 + 'A' - 1);
if (secondChar == '#') //Excel is one-based, but modulo operations are zero-based
secondChar = 'Z'; //convert one-based to zero-based
return string.Format("{0}{1}", firstChar, secondChar);
}
else //three characters
{
char firstChar = (char)((int)((col - 1) / 702) + 'A' - 1);
char secondChar = (char)((col - 1) / 26 % 26 + 'A' - 1);
char thirdChar = (char)(col % 26 + 'A' - 1);
if (thirdChar == '#') //Excel is one-based, but modulo operations are zero-based
thirdChar = 'Z'; //convert one-based to zero-based
return string.Format("{0}{1}{2}", firstChar, secondChar, thirdChar);
}
}

Same implementation in Java
public String getExcelColumnName (int columnNumber)
{
int dividend = columnNumber;
int i;
String columnName = "";
int modulo;
while (dividend > 0)
{
modulo = (dividend - 1) % 26;
i = 65 + modulo;
columnName = new Character((char)i).toString() + columnName;
dividend = (int)((dividend - modulo) / 26);
}
return columnName;
}

int nCol = 127;
string sChars = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
string sCol = "";
while (nCol >= 26)
{
int nChar = nCol % 26;
nCol = (nCol - nChar) / 26;
// You could do some trick with using nChar as offset from 'A', but I am lazy to do it right now.
sCol = sChars[nChar] + sCol;
}
sCol = sChars[nCol] + sCol;
Update: Peter's comment is right. That's what I get for writing code in the browser. :-) My solution was not compiling, it was missing the left-most letter and it was building the string in reverse order - all now fixed.
Bugs aside, the algorithm is basically converting a number from base 10 to base 26.
Update 2: Joel Coehoorn is right - the code above will return AB for 27. If it was real base 26 number, AA would be equal to A and the next number after Z would be BA.
int nCol = 127;
string sChars = "0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
string sCol = "";
while (nCol > 26)
{
int nChar = nCol % 26;
if (nChar == 0)
nChar = 26;
nCol = (nCol - nChar) / 26;
sCol = sChars[nChar] + sCol;
}
if (nCol != 0)
sCol = sChars[nCol] + sCol;

..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;
}

Just throwing in a simple two-line C# implementation using recursion, because all the answers here seem far more complicated than necessary.
/// <summary>
/// Gets the column letter(s) corresponding to the given column number.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="column">The one-based column index. Must be greater than zero.</param>
/// <returns>The desired column letter, or an empty string if the column number was invalid.</returns>
public static string GetColumnLetter(int column) {
if (column < 1) return String.Empty;
return GetColumnLetter((column - 1) / 26) + (char)('A' + (column - 1) % 26);
}

Although there are already a bunch of valid answers1, none get into the theory behind it.
Excel column names are bijective base-26 representations of their number. This is quite different than an ordinary base 26 (there is no leading zero), and I really recommend reading the Wikipedia entry to grasp the differences. For example, the decimal value 702 (decomposed in 26*26 + 26) is represented in "ordinary" base 26 by 110 (i.e. 1x26^2 + 1x26^1 + 0x26^0) and in bijective base-26 by ZZ (i.e. 26x26^1 + 26x26^0).
Differences aside, bijective numeration is a positional notation, and as such we can perform conversions using an iterative (or recursive) algorithm which on each iteration finds the digit of the next position (similarly to an ordinary base conversion algorithm).
The general formula to get the digit at the last position (the one indexed 0) of the bijective base-k representation of a decimal number m is (f being the ceiling function minus 1):
m - (f(m / k) * k)
The digit at the next position (i.e. the one indexed 1) is found by applying the same formula to the result of f(m / k). We know that for the last digit (i.e. the one with the highest index) f(m / k) is 0.
This forms the basis for an iteration that finds each successive digit in bijective base-k of a decimal number. In pseudo-code it would look like this (digit() maps a decimal integer to its representation in the bijective base -- e.g. digit(1) would return A in bijective base-26):
fun conv(m)
q = f(m / k)
a = m - (q * k)
if (q == 0)
return digit(a)
else
return conv(q) + digit(a);
So we can translate this to C#2 to get a generic3 "conversion to bijective base-k" ToBijective() routine:
class BijectiveNumeration {
private int baseK;
private Func<int, char> getDigit;
public BijectiveNumeration(int baseK, Func<int, char> getDigit) {
this.baseK = baseK;
this.getDigit = getDigit;
}
public string ToBijective(double decimalValue) {
double q = f(decimalValue / baseK);
double a = decimalValue - (q * baseK);
return ((q > 0) ? ToBijective(q) : "") + getDigit((int)a);
}
private static double f(double i) {
return (Math.Ceiling(i) - 1);
}
}
Now for conversion to bijective base-26 (our "Excel column name" use case):
static void Main(string[] args)
{
BijectiveNumeration bijBase26 = new BijectiveNumeration(
26,
(value) => Convert.ToChar('A' + (value - 1))
);
Console.WriteLine(bijBase26.ToBijective(1)); // prints "A"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase26.ToBijective(26)); // prints "Z"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase26.ToBijective(27)); // prints "AA"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase26.ToBijective(702)); // prints "ZZ"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase26.ToBijective(16384)); // prints "XFD"
}
Excel's maximum column index is 16384 / XFD, but this code will convert any positive number.
As an added bonus, we can now easily convert to any bijective base. For example for bijective base-10:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
BijectiveNumeration bijBase10 = new BijectiveNumeration(
10,
(value) => value < 10 ? Convert.ToChar('0'+value) : 'A'
);
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(1)); // prints "1"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(10)); // prints "A"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(123)); // prints "123"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(20)); // prints "1A"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(100)); // prints "9A"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(101)); // prints "A1"
Console.WriteLine(bijBase10.ToBijective(2010)); // prints "19AA"
}
1 This generic answer can eventually be reduced to the other, correct, specific answers, but I find it hard to fully grasp the logic of the solutions without the formal theory behind bijective numeration in general. It also proves its correctness nicely. Additionally, several similar questions link back to this one, some being language-agnostic or more generic. That's why I thought the addition of this answer was warranted, and that this question was a good place to put it.
2 C# disclaimer: I implemented an example in C# because this is what is asked here, but I have never learned nor used the language. I have verified it does compile and run, but please adapt it to fit the language best practices / general conventions, if necessary.
3 This example only aims to be correct and understandable ; it could and should be optimized would performance matter (e.g. with tail-recursion -- but that seems to require trampolining in C#), and made safer (e.g. by validating parameters).

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

private String getColumn(int c) {
String s = "";
do {
s = (char)('A' + (c % 26)) + s;
c /= 26;
} while (c-- > 0);
return s;
}
Its not exactly base 26, there is no 0 in the system. If there was, 'Z' would be followed by 'BA' not by 'AA'.

if you just want it for a cell formula without code, here's a formula for it:
IF(COLUMN()>=26,CHAR(ROUND(COLUMN()/26,1)+64)&CHAR(MOD(COLUMN(),26)+64),CHAR(COLUMN()+64))

In Delphi (Pascal):
function GetExcelColumnName(columnNumber: integer): string;
var
dividend, modulo: integer;
begin
Result := '';
dividend := columnNumber;
while dividend > 0 do begin
modulo := (dividend - 1) mod 26;
Result := Chr(65 + modulo) + Result;
dividend := (dividend - modulo) div 26;
end;
end;

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));
}

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;
}

Though I am late to the game, Graham's answer is far from being optimal. Particularly, you don't have to use the modulo, call ToString() and apply (int) cast. Considering that in most cases in C# world you would start numbering from 0, here is my revision:
public static string GetColumnName(int index) // zero-based
{
const byte BASE = 'Z' - 'A' + 1;
string name = String.Empty;
do
{
name = Convert.ToChar('A' + index % BASE) + name;
index = index / BASE - 1;
}
while (index >= 0);
return name;
}

More than 30 solutions already, but here's my one-line C# solution...
public string IntToExcelColumn(int i)
{
return ((i<16926? "" : ((char)((((i/26)-1)%26)+65)).ToString()) + (i<2730? "" : ((char)((((i/26)-1)%26)+65)).ToString()) + (i<26? "" : ((char)((((i/26)-1)%26)+65)).ToString()) + ((char)((i%26)+65)));
}

After looking at all the supplied Versions here, I decided to do one myself, using recursion.
Here is my vb.net Version:
Function CL(ByVal x As Integer) As String
If x >= 1 And x <= 26 Then
CL = Chr(x + 64)
Else
CL = CL((x - x Mod 26) / 26) & Chr((x Mod 26) + 1 + 64)
End If
End Function

Refining the original solution (in C#):
public static class ExcelHelper
{
private static Dictionary<UInt16, String> l_DictionaryOfColumns;
public static ExcelHelper() {
l_DictionaryOfColumns = new Dictionary<ushort, string>(256);
}
public static String GetExcelColumnName(UInt16 l_Column)
{
UInt16 l_ColumnCopy = l_Column;
String l_Chars = "0ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
String l_rVal = "";
UInt16 l_Char;
if (l_DictionaryOfColumns.ContainsKey(l_Column) == true)
{
l_rVal = l_DictionaryOfColumns[l_Column];
}
else
{
while (l_ColumnCopy > 26)
{
l_Char = l_ColumnCopy % 26;
if (l_Char == 0)
l_Char = 26;
l_ColumnCopy = (l_ColumnCopy - l_Char) / 26;
l_rVal = l_Chars[l_Char] + l_rVal;
}
if (l_ColumnCopy != 0)
l_rVal = l_Chars[l_ColumnCopy] + l_rVal;
l_DictionaryOfColumns.ContainsKey(l_Column) = l_rVal;
}
return l_rVal;
}
}

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;
}

JavaScript Solution
/**
* Calculate the column letter abbreviation from a 1 based index
* #param {Number} value
* #returns {string}
*/
getColumnFromIndex = function (value) {
var base = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'.split('');
var remainder, result = "";
do {
remainder = value % 26;
result = base[(remainder || 26) - 1] + result;
value = Math.floor(value / 26);
} while (value > 0);
return result;
};

These my codes to convert specific number (index start from 1) to Excel Column.
public static string NumberToExcelColumn(uint number)
{
uint originalNumber = number;
uint numChars = 1;
while (Math.Pow(26, numChars) < number)
{
numChars++;
if (Math.Pow(26, numChars) + 26 >= number)
{
break;
}
}
string toRet = "";
uint lastValue = 0;
do
{
number -= lastValue;
double powerVal = Math.Pow(26, numChars - 1);
byte thisCharIdx = (byte)Math.Truncate((columnNumber - 1) / powerVal);
lastValue = (int)powerVal * thisCharIdx;
if (numChars - 2 >= 0)
{
double powerVal_next = Math.Pow(26, numChars - 2);
byte thisCharIdx_next = (byte)Math.Truncate((columnNumber - lastValue - 1) / powerVal_next);
int lastValue_next = (int)Math.Pow(26, numChars - 2) * thisCharIdx_next;
if (thisCharIdx_next == 0 && lastValue_next == 0 && powerVal_next == 26)
{
thisCharIdx--;
lastValue = (int)powerVal * thisCharIdx;
}
}
toRet += (char)((byte)'A' + thisCharIdx + ((numChars > 1) ? -1 : 0));
numChars--;
} while (numChars > 0);
return toRet;
}
My Unit Test:
[TestMethod]
public void Test()
{
Assert.AreEqual("A", NumberToExcelColumn(1));
Assert.AreEqual("Z", NumberToExcelColumn(26));
Assert.AreEqual("AA", NumberToExcelColumn(27));
Assert.AreEqual("AO", NumberToExcelColumn(41));
Assert.AreEqual("AZ", NumberToExcelColumn(52));
Assert.AreEqual("BA", NumberToExcelColumn(53));
Assert.AreEqual("ZZ", NumberToExcelColumn(702));
Assert.AreEqual("AAA", NumberToExcelColumn(703));
Assert.AreEqual("ABC", NumberToExcelColumn(731));
Assert.AreEqual("ACQ", NumberToExcelColumn(771));
Assert.AreEqual("AYZ", NumberToExcelColumn(1352));
Assert.AreEqual("AZA", NumberToExcelColumn(1353));
Assert.AreEqual("AZB", NumberToExcelColumn(1354));
Assert.AreEqual("BAA", NumberToExcelColumn(1379));
Assert.AreEqual("CNU", NumberToExcelColumn(2413));
Assert.AreEqual("GCM", NumberToExcelColumn(4823));
Assert.AreEqual("MSR", NumberToExcelColumn(9300));
Assert.AreEqual("OMB", NumberToExcelColumn(10480));
Assert.AreEqual("ULV", NumberToExcelColumn(14530));
Assert.AreEqual("XFD", NumberToExcelColumn(16384));
}

Sorry, this is Python instead of C#, but at least the results are correct:
def excel_column_number_to_name(column_number):
output = ""
index = column_number-1
while index >= 0:
character = chr((index%26)+ord('A'))
output = output + character
index = index/26 - 1
return output[::-1]
for i in xrange(1, 1024):
print "%4d : %s" % (i, excel_column_number_to_name(i))
Passed these test cases:
Column Number: 494286 => ABCDZ
Column Number: 27 => AA
Column Number: 52 => AZ

For what it is worth, here is Graham's code in Powershell:
function ConvertTo-ExcelColumnID {
param (
[parameter(Position = 0,
HelpMessage = "A 1-based index to convert to an excel column ID. e.g. 2 => 'B', 29 => 'AC'",
Mandatory = $true)]
[int]$index
);
[string]$result = '';
if ($index -le 0 ) {
return $result;
}
while ($index -gt 0) {
[int]$modulo = ($index - 1) % 26;
$character = [char]($modulo + [int][char]'A');
$result = $character + $result;
[int]$index = ($index - $modulo) / 26;
}
return $result;
}

Another VBA way
Public Function GetColumnName(TargetCell As Range) As String
GetColumnName = Split(CStr(TargetCell.Cells(1, 1).Address), "$")(1)
End Function

Here's my super late implementation in PHP. This one's recursive. I wrote it just before I found this post. I wanted to see if others had solved this problem already...
public function GetColumn($intNumber, $strCol = null) {
if ($intNumber > 0) {
$intRem = ($intNumber - 1) % 26;
$strCol = $this->GetColumn(intval(($intNumber - $intRem) / 26), sprintf('%s%s', chr(65 + $intRem), $strCol));
}
return $strCol;
}