The Excel OCT2BIN Function

Related Function:
Bin2Oct Function

Function Description

The Excel Oct2Bin function converts an Octal (Base 8) number into a Binary (Base 2) number.

The syntax of the function is:

OCT2BIN( number, [places] )

Where the function arguments are as follows:

number - The octal number that is to be converted to binary.
[places] -

An optional argument, which specifies the number of characters that you want the returned binary number to have.

If this is greater than the minimum, the binary number will be padded out using leading zeros.

If omitted, the returned binary uses the minimum number of places.

Note that the supplied number argument must not be more than 10 characters (40 bits) long. The most significant bit of this value denotes the sign of the number and the remaining 39 bits denote the magnitude. Negative numbers are represented using two's complement notation.

  +   Display Octal and Binary Summary:

Octal

The Octal (Base 8) Numeral System uses the digits 0-7.

The following table shows the first 16 octal values, along with the equivalent decimal values:

Octal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20
Decimal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

For further information on the octal numeral system, see the Wikipedia Octal Page

Binary

The Binary (Base 2) Numeral System uses the digits 0 & 1.

The following table shows the first 8 binary values, along with the equivalent decimal values:

Binary 1 10 11 100 101 110 111 1000
Decimal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

For further information on the binary numeral system, see the Wikipedia Binary Page

Oct2Bin Function Examples

The following spreadsheets show five examples of the Excel Oct2Bin function.

 Formulas:
  A
1 =OCT2BIN( "5" )
2 =OCT2BIN( "0000000001" )
3 =OCT2BIN( "2", 10 )
4 =OCT2BIN( "7777777770" )
5 =OCT2BIN( "16" )
 Results:
  A
1 101
2 1
3 0000000010
4 1111111000
5 1110

Note that, in the above example spreadsheet, the negative octal and binary numbers in cell A4 are represented by two's complement notation.


Further details and examples of the Excel Oct2Bin function are provided on the Microsoft Office website.


Oct2Bin Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Oct2Bin function this is likely to be one of the following:

Common Errors
#NUM! -

Occurs if either:

  • The supplied number argument is not recognised as an octal number or contains more than 10 characters;
  • The resulting binary number requires more places than is specified by the supplied [places] argument;
  • The supplied [places] argument is < 0 or > 10.
#VALUE! - Occurs if the supplied [places] argument is non-numeric.