Function to convert column number to letter? - excel

Question

Does anyone have an Excel VBA function which can return the column letter(s) from a number?
For example, entering 100 should return CV.

Answer 1

This function returns the column letter for a given column number.
Function Col_Letter(lngCol As Long) As String
Dim vArr
vArr = Split(Cells(1, lngCol).Address(True, False), "$")
Col_Letter = vArr(0)
End Function
testing code for column 100
Sub Test()
MsgBox Col_Letter(100)
End Sub

Answer 2

If you'd rather not use a range object:
Function ColumnLetter(ColumnNumber As Long) As String
Dim n As Long
Dim c As Byte
Dim s As String
n = ColumnNumber
Do
c = ((n - 1) Mod 26)
s = Chr(c + 65) & s
n = (n - c) \ 26
Loop While n > 0
ColumnLetter = s
End Function

Answer 3

Something that works for me is:
Cells(Row,Column).Address
This will return the $AE$1 format reference for you.

Answer 4

For example: MsgBox Columns( 9347 ).Address returns .
To return ONLY the column letter(s): Split((Columns(Column Index).Address(,0)),":")(0)
For example: MsgBox Split((Columns( 2734 ).Address(,0)),":")(0) returns .
  

Answer 5

And a solution using recursion:
Function ColumnNumberToLetter(iCol As Long) As String
Dim lAlpha As Long
Dim lRemainder As Long
If iCol <= 26 Then
ColumnNumberToLetter = Chr(iCol + 64)
Else
lRemainder = iCol Mod 26
lAlpha = Int(iCol / 26)
If lRemainder = 0 Then
lRemainder = 26
lAlpha = lAlpha - 1
End If
ColumnNumberToLetter = ColumnNumberToLetter(lAlpha) & Chr(lRemainder + 64)
End If
End Function

Answer 6

Just one more way to do this. Brettdj's answer made me think of this, but if you use this method you don't have to use a variant array, you can go directly to a string.
ColLtr = Cells(1, ColNum).Address(True, False)
ColLtr = Replace(ColLtr, "$1", "")
or can make it a little more compact with this
ColLtr = Replace(Cells(1, ColNum).Address(True, False), "$1", "")
Notice this does depend on you referencing row 1 in the cells object.

Answer 7

This is a version of robartsd's answer (with the flavor of Jan Wijninckx's one line solution), using recursion instead of a loop.
Public Function ColumnLetter(Column As Integer) As String
If Column < 1 Then Exit Function
ColumnLetter = ColumnLetter(Int((Column - 1) / 26)) & Chr(((Column - 1) Mod 26) + Asc("A"))
End Function
I've tested this with the following inputs:
1 => "A"
26 => "Z"
27 => "AA"
51 => "AY"
702 => "ZZ"
703 => "AAA"
-1 => ""
-234=> ""

Answer 8

This is available through using a formula:
=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(1,COLUMN(),4),"1","")
and so also can be written as a VBA function as requested:
Function ColName(colNum As Integer) As String
ColName = Split(Worksheets(1).Cells(1, colNum).Address, "$")(1)
End Function

Answer 9

robertsd's code is elegant, yet to make it future-proof, change the declaration of n to type long
In case you want a formula to avoid macro's, here is something that works up to column 702 inclusive
=IF(A1>26,CHAR(INT((A1-1)/26)+64),"")&CHAR(MOD(A1-1,26)+65)
where A1 is the cell containing the column number to be converted to letters.

Answer 10

LATEST UPDATE: Please ignore the function below, #SurasinTancharoen managed to alert me that it is broken at n = 53.
For those who are interested, here are other broken values just below n = 200:
Please use #brettdj function for all your needs. It even works for Microsoft Excel latest maximum number of columns limit: 16384 should gives XFD
END OF UPDATE
The function below is provided by Microsoft:
Function ConvertToLetter(iCol As Integer) As String
Dim iAlpha As Integer
Dim iRemainder As Integer
iAlpha = Int(iCol / 27)
iRemainder = iCol - (iAlpha * 26)
If iAlpha > 0 Then
ConvertToLetter = Chr(iAlpha + 64)
End If
If iRemainder > 0 Then
ConvertToLetter = ConvertToLetter & Chr(iRemainder + 64)
End If
End Function
Source: How to convert Excel column numbers into alphabetical characters
APPLIES TO
Microsoft Office Excel 2007
Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

Answer 11

This is a function based on #DamienFennelly's answer above. If you give me a thumbs up, give him a thumbs up too! :P
Function outColLetterFromNumber(iCol as Integer) as String
sAddr = Cells(1, iCol).Address
aSplit = Split(sAddr, "$")
outColLetterFromNumber = aSplit(1)
End Function

Answer 12

There is a very simple way using Excel power: Use Range.Cells.Address property, this way:
strCol = Cells(1, lngRow).Address(xlRowRelative, xlColRelative)
This will return the address of the desired column on row 1. Take it of the 1:
strCol = Left(strCol, len(strCol) - 1)
Note that it so fast and powerful that you can return column addresses that even exists!
Substitute lngRow for the desired column number using Selection.Column property!

Answer 13

Here is a simple one liner that can be used.
ColumnLetter = Mid(Cells(Row, LastColA).Address, 2, 1)
It will only work for a 1 letter column designation, but it is nice for simple cases. If you need it to work for exclusively 2 letter designations, then you could use the following:
ColumnLetter = Mid(Cells(Row, LastColA).Address, 2, 2)

Answer 14

This will work regardless of what column inside your one code line for cell thats located in row X, in column Y:
Mid(Cells(X,Y).Address, 2, instr(2,Cells(X,Y).Address,"$")-2)
If you have a cell with unique defined name "Cellname":
Mid(Cells(1,val(range("Cellname").Column)).Address, 2, instr(2,Cells(1,val(range("Cellname").Column)).Address,"$")-2)

Answer 15

So I'm late to the party here, but I want to contribute another answer that no one else has addressed yet that doesn't involve arrays. You can do it with simple string manipulation.
Function ColLetter(Col_Index As Long) As String
Dim ColumnLetter As String
'Prevent errors; if you get back a number when expecting a letter,
' you know you did something wrong.
If Col_Index <= 0 Or Col_Index >= 16384 Then
ColLetter = 0
Exit Function
End If
ColumnLetter = ThisWorkbook.Sheets(1).Cells(1, Col_Index).Address 'Address in $A$1 format
ColumnLetter = Mid(ColumnLetter, 2, InStr(2, ColumnLetter, "$") - 2) 'Extracts just the letter
ColLetter = ColumnLetter
End Sub
After you have the input in the format $A$1, use the Mid function, start at position 2 to account for the first $, then you find where the second $ appears in the string using InStr, and then subtract 2 off to account for that starting position.
This gives you the benefit of being adaptable for the whole range of possible columns. Therefore, ColLetter(1) gives back "A", and ColLetter(16384) gives back "XFD", which is the last possible column for my Excel version.

Answer 16

Easy way to get the column name
Sub column()
cell=cells(1,1)
column = Replace(cell.Address(False, False), cell.Row, "")
msgbox column
End Sub
I hope it helps =)

Answer 17

The solution from brettdj works fantastically, but if you are coming across this as a potential solution for the same reason I was, I thought that I would offer my alternative solution.
The problem I was having was scrolling to a specific column based on the output of a MATCH() function. Instead of converting the column number to its column letter parallel, I chose to temporarily toggle the reference style from A1 to R1C1. This way I could just scroll to the column number without having to muck with a VBA function. To easily toggle between the two reference styles, you can use this VBA code:
Sub toggle_reference_style()
If Application.ReferenceStyle = xlR1C1 Then
Application.ReferenceStyle = xlA1
Else
Application.ReferenceStyle = xlR1C1
End If
End Sub

Answer 18

Furthering on brettdj answer, here is to make the input of column number optional. If the column number input is omitted, the function returns the column letter of the cell that calls to the function. I know this can also be achieved using merely ColumnLetter(COLUMN()), but i thought it'd be nice if it can cleverly understand so.
Public Function ColumnLetter(Optional ColumnNumber As Long = 0) As String
If ColumnNumber = 0 Then
ColumnLetter = Split(Application.Caller.Address(True, False, xlA1), "$")(0)
Else
ColumnLetter = Split(Cells(1, ColumnNumber).Address(True, False, xlA1), "$")(0)
End If
End Function
The trade off of this function is that it would be very very slightly slower than brettdj's answer because of the IF test. But this could be felt if the function is repeatedly used for very large amount of times.

Answer 19

Here is a late answer, just for simplistic approach using Int() and If in case of 1-3 character columns:
Function outColLetterFromNumber(i As Integer) As String
If i < 27 Then 'one-letter
col = Chr(64 + i)
ElseIf i < 677 Then 'two-letter
col = Chr(64 + Int(i / 26)) & Chr(64 + i - (Int(i / 26) * 26))
Else 'three-letter
col = Chr(64 + Int(i / 676)) & Chr(64 + Int(i - Int(i / 676) * 676) / 26)) & Chr(64 + i - (Int(i - Int(i / 676) * 676) / 26) * 26))
End If
outColLetterFromNumber = col
End Function

Answer 20

Function fColLetter(iCol As Integer) As String
On Error GoTo errLabel
fColLetter = Split(Columns(lngCol).Address(, False), ":")(1)
Exit Function
errLabel:
fColLetter = "%ERR%"
End Function

Answer 21

Here, a simple function in Pascal (Delphi).
function GetColLetterFromNum(Sheet : Variant; Col : Integer) : String;
begin
Result := Sheet.Columns[Col].Address; // from Col=100 --> '$CV:$CV'
Result := Copy(Result, 2, Pos(':', Result) - 2);
end;

Answer 22

This formula will give the column based on a range (i.e., A1), where range is a single cell. If a multi-cell range is given it will return the top-left cell. Note, both cell references must be the same:
MID(CELL("address",A1),2,SEARCH("$",CELL("address",A1),2)-2)
How it works:
CELL("property","range") returns a specific value of the range depending on the property used. In this case the cell address.
The address property returns a value $[col]$[row], i.e. A1 -> $A$1.
The MID function parses out the column value between the $ symbols.

Answer 23

Sub GiveAddress()
Dim Chara As String
Chara = ""
Dim Num As Integer
Dim ColNum As Long
ColNum = InputBox("Input the column number")
Do
If ColNum < 27 Then
Chara = Chr(ColNum + 64) & Chara
Exit Do
Else
Num = ColNum / 26
If (Num * 26) > ColNum Then Num = Num - 1
If (Num * 26) = ColNum Then Num = ((ColNum - 1) / 26) - 1
Chara = Chr((ColNum - (26 * Num)) + 64) & Chara
ColNum = Num
End If
Loop
MsgBox "Address is '" & Chara & "'."
End Sub

Answer 24

Column letter from column number can be extracted using formula by following steps
1. Calculate the column address using ADDRESS formula
2. Extract the column letter using MID and FIND function
Example:
1. ADDRESS(1000,1000,1)
results $ALL$1000
2. =MID(F15,2,FIND("$",F15,2)-2)
results ALL asuming F15 contains result of step 1
In one go we can write
MID(ADDRESS(1000,1000,1),2,FIND("$",ADDRESS(1000,1000,1),2)-2)

Answer 25

this is only for REFEDIT ... generaly use uphere code
shortly version... easy to be read and understood /
it use poz of $
Private Sub RefEdit1_Change()
Me.Label1.Caption = NOtoLETTER(RefEdit1.Value) ' you may assign to a variable var=....'
End Sub
Function NOtoLETTER(REFedit)
Dim First As Long, Second As Long
First = InStr(REFedit, "$") 'first poz of $
Second = InStr(First + 1, REFedit, "$") 'second poz of $
NOtoLETTER = Mid(REFedit, First + 1, Second - First - 1) 'extract COLUMN LETTER
End Function

Answer 26

Cap A is 65 so:
MsgBox Chr(ActiveCell.Column + 64)
Found in: http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum/showthread.php?6103-Solved-get-column-letter

Answer 27

what about just converting to the ascii number and using Chr() to convert back to a letter?
col_letter = Chr(Selection.Column + 96)

Answer 28

Here's another way:
{
Sub find_test2()
alpha_col = "A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,W,Z"
MsgBox Split(alpha_col, ",")(ActiveCell.Column - 1)
End Sub
}