PlanMaker HEX2DEC: Signed 32-Bit Conversion and Examples

The PlanMaker 2026 reference, 2024 reference and 2021 reference were retrieved and read on October 15, 2026. These establish documented support in those manual families, not the original introduction or a last-working-version endpoint. Both historical endpoints remain unverified. Specific FreeOffice/mobile editions and every desktop build are outside the checked scope.

No native PlanMaker execution, screenshot or file transfer was performed. The expectations below are independently checked integer encodings consistent with the documentation. English formulas use commas; localized separators and function names require checking in the installed build.

=HEX2DEC(Number)

Number is required. The documented signed domain is −2^31 through 2^31−1, or −2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647. The binary/hexadecimal/octal strings for negative values encode the 32-bit two’s-complement word, rather than an ordinary minus-prefixed numeral.

The source numerals in this guide are text. Format their input cells as text before typing them, and quote literals inside formulas. Valid hexadecimal digits are 0–9 and A–F. Do not type a long bit pattern as a decimal numeric value: precision loss or automatic formatting can change it before conversion.

There is no output-width argument. The result is the signed decimal quantity, so original leading-zero layout is not retained. Keep the raw text if it is also an identifier or protocol field.

Create BaseControls with Source in A1 and Converted in B1. Set A2:A7 to text and enter the A strings exactly as shown; do not include quotation marks as part of the cell contents. Fill B2 =HEX2DEC(A2) through B7.

In a copy change A3 from 2A to 2B. B3 becomes 43. Row 4 remains a separate leading-zero control for the original 42.

The source writes the hexadecimal endpoints 80000000 and 7FFFFFFF, alongside decimal −2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647. These are signed encodings, not an ordinary increasing interval of unsigned hex magnitudes. The negative region wraps through the high-bit-set patterns.

The explicit vendor control =HEX2DEC("FFFFFFD6") returns −42. Its unsigned positional value is 4,294,967,254; subtracting 4,294,967,296 gives −42. =HEX2DEC("2A") instead returns 42, since 2×16+10=42.

Use uppercase A–F in these fixtures. Lowercase normalization, prefixes such as 0x, whitespace and malformed-string handling are not established by the short reference and are not silently borrowed from another product.

Create ByteOrder. Set F2:G2 to text and enter 12 and A5. H2 =HEX2DEC(F2)*256+HEX2DEC(G2) gives 4773 if F2 is the high byte. I2 =HEX2DEC(G2)*256+HEX2DEC(F2) gives 42258 for the reverse order.

The first result is 18×256+165; the second is 165×256+18. The direct control =HEX2DEC("12A5") gives 4773. The conversion does not decide which byte order an instrument or file format uses.

On a copy change G2 from A5 to A6. H2 becomes 4774, an increase of one, while I2 becomes 42514, an increase of 256. This isolates the positional contribution of the changed byte.

=HEX2DEC("7FFFFFFF") has independently expected result 2,147,483,647. =HEX2DEC("80000000") gives −2,147,483,648, and =HEX2DEC("FFFFFFFF") gives −1 under the documented two’s-complement interpretation.

An external unsigned counter may intend a different meaning for the same characters. Preserve the original field and its signedness specification rather than treating a negative conversion as proof that the source record is corrupt. No native range-overflow error token is claimed by these mathematical endpoint controls.

Respect the documented signed range and source base. The short reference does not give a complete native error/coercion matrix for malformed strings, prefixes, blanks, Boolean values, arrays or fractional Number inputs. No exact error token is invented for those cases. A source with too many bits or an invalid digit is outside the documented contract even when its intended meaning seems obvious.

Before reuse, record the exact PlanMaker build, edition, platform, language and workbook format. Recreate the original cells, inspect whether source text survived entry, and apply each changed-input control separately. Test saving and the receiving application’s interpretation independently; neither follows from a correct mathematical encoding.