DECIMAL in Zoho Sheet: Decode Binary, Hex and Base-36 Text

• Introduced: The original introduction version and date are not established by the checked sources.
• Availability: Currently documented in Zoho Sheet’s rolling web-service help; no numbered release or retirement endpoint is established.
• Scope: English-language web-service documentation. Mobile and offline-client parity is outside the verified scope.
• Checked: October 14, 2026, against the official DECIMAL reference. Documentation check; not a new native test.

=DECIMAL(number; radix)

There is no optional sign-mode or cumulative flag. Letters beyond 9 represent the digits ten through thirty-five as the base increases. Zoho says alphabetic digits are case-insensitive, so "ff" and "FF" have the same value in base 16. Zoho lists binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal and base-36 digit alphabets, with the corresponding valid digit ranges. Zoho DECIMAL reference.

Preserve text strings in quotation marks when typing them directly. When using A2 instead, make sure the import has not stripped significant leading zeros or converted a long identifier to scientific notation before DECIMAL reads it. Leading zeroes do not contribute to the numeric value but may matter to an external application. A formula may work numerically while still losing the original representation.

Zoho’s published examples confirm the function and operand order; the self-contained cases below are independently calculated by positional notation. They are marked as expected rather than native Zoho observations.

For "101010", the leftmost bit is the coefficient of 2⁵. Its value is 1×32 + 0×16 + 1×8 + 0×4 + 1×2 + 0×1 = 42. The function returns an ordinary base-ten number; its numeric cell formatting is independent of which source base you selected. Zoho DECIMAL.

Start a blank worksheet with A1 Encoded value, B1 Source base, C1 Decimal result, and D1 Manual check. Enter A2 as text 101010 and B2 as the number 2. In C2 enter =DECIMAL(A2;B2); expected C2 is 42. In D2 enter =32+8+2 to compare two independently specified paths. In row 3 use text FF and radix 16, with =DECIMAL(A3;B3) and expected 255; in row 4 use 1Z and 36, expecting 71.

These examples are reproducible without downloading a proprietary workbook or relying on hidden A3/A4 examples. If a pasted CSV automatically treats 101010 as a number, format the input cells as text and re-enter the string. Keep the listed expected values beside your inputs for a manual comparison; these expectations are not a native-execution log.

Hex codes in reports. Suppose a telemetry export stores byte values as 00, 0A, and FF. Keep the original text in A and use =DECIMAL(A2;16) in a calculated B column. The expected converted values are 0, 10 and 255. A single byte can represent 0–255, but this example does not establish how Zoho deals with arbitrarily long strings. Keep byte-width validation separate, e.g., ensure original text consists of two hexadecimal symbols before conversion.

Base-36 SKU serials. The pair 1Z decodes to 71. If multiple systems produce alphanumeric serials, explicitly agree on the alphabet and whether the identifiers are case sensitive. Zoho’s DECIMAL comparison is case-insensitive, so "a" and "A" will decode identically; do not use that to distinguish two different case-sensitive identity tokens. Converting a string to a number will also discard its visible leading padding, so retain original codes.

Round-trip conversions. Zoho BASE encodes a number as positional text. Compare =DECIMAL(BASE(A2;16);16) against A2 for suitable nonnegative integer test data. Independent arithmetic expects equality for 0, 42, 255 and 1295. Do not extend that promise to arbitrary floating-point values, extremely large inputs or unsupported signed formats until Zoho-native tests and the actual documented numeric limits are known.

Signed binary warning. DECIMAL("1111111111";2) is an unsigned positional interpretation: mathematically 1023. In contrast, Zoho’s BIN2DEC documentation shows a negative 10-bit case, consistent with signed binary conventions. These functions therefore must not be described as interchangeable for every 10-bit string. The 1023 expectation is independently calculated; the precise signed BIN2DEC boundary cases still require a Zoho worksheet run. Zoho BIN2DEC.

The documented error list is broader than the circumstances proved for any one formula; it must not be interpreted as a complete internal error precedence specification. Official DECIMAL error table.

Official Zoho: public English help covers cloud function syntax, case-insensitivity, valid radix and examples. Independent calculation: all extra example values and positional proofs in this guide. Native product testing: zero executions in Zoho Sheet, Android, iOS or Excel. The documentation reviewed does not provide a first-supported Zoho version, account-tier entitlement or numeric-precision limit for DECIMAL.

Microsoft’s Excel DECIMAL article lists additional length and precision constraints for Excel. Those are Excel-only evidence, not permission to assign Zoho an identical 255-character maximum or 2⁵³ precision guarantee. Formula delimiters and display locales also differ by settings; Zoho’s documented syntax uses semicolons, and its locale settings page documents decimal and grouping options.

Zoho publishes generic mobile function-entry guidance, but that is not function-by-function mobile parity certification. Web insertion guide; Android formulas; iOS formulas. Related official function pages: BASE, BIN2DEC, DEC2BIN. Checked 2026-10-13.