ARABIC in Collabora Office: Convert Roman-Numeral Text to a Number

=ARABIC(Text)

Text is a Roman numeral supplied as a string or a reference to text. The dedicated Collabora help identifies the largest supported value as 3999, represented by MMMCMXCIX or a supported simplified form. Empty text returns zero.

The current source converts ASCII letters to uppercase before parsing, supporting ordinary lowercase Roman letters. It applies structural validity checks rather than simply adding and subtracting every recognizable symbol in arbitrary order.

ARABIC is the inverse-direction companion to ROMAN: it converts text into a number. It does not translate Arabic-language words or change the font of a numeric cell.

Put MXIV, MMII and MMMCMXCIX as text in A2:A4. Enter =ARABIC(A2) in B2 and fill down. Independent numeric targets are 1014, 2002 and 3999.

The first two match the official examples. The largest value supplies an ordinary boundary control, but it does not establish behavior for arbitrarily long strings or every malformed numeral.

=ARABIC("") targets 0, as explicitly documented. That result does not mean empty input is a valid positive chapter label; completeness validation is a separate rule.

Put I, IV, IX and XIV in A7:A10. Use ARABIC on each row to get 1, 4, 9 and 14. Their independent numeric sum is 28.

Sort using the converted numeric column when numeric order is intended. Alphabetical sorting of the original Roman strings can differ from ordering their magnitudes.

Keep the original text as well. Replacing it immediately with the number would discard evidence about the original notation, capitalization or possible input error.

The classic Roman form for 499 is CDXCIX. The supported ROMAN simplification modes can also produce LDVLIV, XDIX, VDIV and ID. The current parser’s structure checks accept these representations with independent target 499.

The additive spelling IIII is also accepted as four by the inspected parser. This is why a successful ARABIC conversion is not proof that a string follows a strictly classic notation policy. If an external style guide requires the classic form, compare the normalized input with ROMAN of the converted number using its classic mode.

For example, ID converts to 499, but the classic output is CDXCIX. The value can be valid while the presentation differs from the required convention.

For positive integers 1, 4, 9, 14, 1014, 2002 and 3999, =ARABIC(ROMAN(A2)) has the independent target of the original integer when those values are placed in A2:A8.

The round trip checks compatible conversion rules over this domain. It does not prove that every arbitrary source string is valid, and it does not preserve a simplified spelling: converting to a number and back through classic ROMAN can normalize the representation.

Lowercase =ARABIC("mxiv") has source-model target 1014 because the parser uppercases ASCII letters. Leading or trailing spaces are not silently removed by that source operation; clean input only according to a documented policy.

The parser rejects unrecognized characters and invalid structural sequences. The current source rejects examples such as “VX”, “IIIII”, “MMMM” and “ABC” through its illegal-argument path. Exact localized native error cells were not captured.

Avoid relying on a naive rule that subtracts any smaller symbol before a larger one. Such a rule can assign a number to strings that the actual parser rejects. Preserve both the original text and any conversion error for review instead of replacing every error with zero, which would become indistinguishable from the documented empty-string case.

The examples cover ordinary ASCII Roman letters and supported simplified forms. Unicode lookalike numeral glyphs, arbitrary whitespace, numeric-input coercion and file-import behavior remain unverified in the target application.

The exact function is documented in Collabora Office 26.04 desktop help. This function’s cited help snapshot was retrieved on 2026-10-15 and hash-verified on October 15, 2026. Desktop documentation does not establish Online or mobile support. First introduction and last functioning release are unknown in this evidence.

No native Collabora Office execution occurred. Worked results are independent logical, calendar, structural or mathematical expectations. Formulas use English names and semicolon argument separators.

Implementation details are corroborated by Collabora current source, retrieved October 15, 2026. This moving-main snapshot is not a pinned 26.04 binary or an application test.

• Collabora Office 26.04: ARABIC.
• Editorial testing standards.