BIN2DEC in Collabora Office: Decode Binary Strings Without Losing Their Width
Decode binary text in Collabora Calc, explain the ten-bit signed convention and preserve leading zeros beside independently checked decimal values.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: BIN2DEC interprets a string of binary digits and returns its numeric value. For example, =BIN2DEC("101010") has expected result 42. The documented input is at most ten bits and uses two’s-complement notation for negative values.
Availability and version history
- Introduced: the original Collabora release and launch date are not established by the reviewed sources.
- Availability: documented in Collabora Office 26.04 desktop help.
- Platform scope: online and mobile deployment support is not inferred from the desktop documentation.
- Checked: October 14, 2026. Function-specific documentation and independent controls; no native Collabora execution.
Syntax and the meaning of a bit string
=BIN2DEC(Number)
Number is a binary string containing digits 0 and 1. Use quoted constants or cells formatted as Text before entering the data. An input apostrophe, when used to preserve text, is an entry marker rather than part of the string to decode.
Each position has a power-of-two weight. The rightmost position represents 1, the next 2, then 4, 8 and so on. BIN2DEC does not simply remove leading zeros from a decimal number: binary 101010 represents 32+8+2=42, not decimal 101010.
The official example converts the short string “1100100” to positive 100. Thus the first digit of every short string is not automatically a negative sign. The signed boundary concerns the full ten-bit representation.
Example 1: decode a reproducible import
Format A2:A7 as Text and enter the following exact strings. Put =BIN2DEC(A2) in B2 and fill through B7.
| A, binary text | Expected numeric result |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 101 | 5 |
| 101010 | 42 |
| 00101010 | 42 |
| 1010101 | 85 |
| 111111111 | 511 |
The two representations of 42 have different widths but the same positional value. Keep column A if an imported record requires eight characters; the number 42 cannot remember that width.
In C2 use =B2+1 and fill down. The outputs are 1, 6, 43, 43, 86 and 512. Arithmetic takes place on the decoded quantities. It does not increment the final character of the original binary text.
Example 2: understand the ten-bit sign boundary
For a ten-bit string whose highest bit is 1, the documented two’s-complement interpretation subtracts 1024, or 2^10, from the unsigned positional value.
| Exact input | Unsigned value | Independently expected BIN2DEC result |
|---|---|---|
| 0111111111 | 511 | 511 |
| 1000000000 | 512 | -512 |
| 1111010110 | 982 | -42 |
| 1111111111 | 1023 | -1 |
Enter these strings in E2:E5 and use =BIN2DEC(E2) in F2, filling down. These are independent consequences of the documented encoding, not captured native results.
The negative convention is not “put a minus sign before the other nine bits.” For example, 1000000000 represents −512, not negative zero. Similarly, nine ones give positive 511, while ten ones give −1.
Advanced example: decode two fields separately
A file specification defines an eight-character record as two separate four-bit unsigned fields. Put 00111010 in H2. Use:
=BIN2DEC(LEFT(H2;4))
=BIN2DEC(RIGHT(H2;4))
=BIN2DEC(H2)
Expected values are 3, 10 and 58. The complete record has positional value 3×16+10=58, but the application’s two fields are 3 and 10. LEFT and RIGHT implement this explicitly defined layout.
If those fields are in I2:J2, =I2*16+J2 independently reconstructs 58. Do not sum the fields and expect the full record: 3+10=13 ignores the high field’s weight.
Reverse conversion and validation
=DEC2BIN(42;8) has expected text 00101010, using the separately documented DEC2BIN width argument. This restores an explicitly supplied eight-character layout; BIN2DEC itself did not retain that information.
Check digit validity and length before using an unfamiliar import. A string containing 2 is outside binary notation, and eleven characters exceed this function’s stated contract even if most are zeros. The cited Collabora section does not give a complete native error-code table, so those invalid inputs are not assigned Excel’s error behavior here.
Whitespace, Boolean coercion, blank references and competing error precedence remain unverified. Preserve source text, decoded value and the external field definition together so a later reviewer can reproduce the interpretation.
References and verification
Complete function-specific documentation reviewed. Outputs are independently calculated positional models or explicitly documented controls, not captured native application results. Formulas use English names and semicolon separators; optional-argument brackets describe syntax and are not typed into a working formula.