The Excel BIN2HEX Function

Related Function:
Hex2Bin Function

Function Description

The Excel Bin2Hex function converts a Binary (Base 2) number into a Hexadecimal (Base 16) number.

The syntax of the function is:

BIN2HEX( number, [places] )

Where the function arguments are as follows:

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

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

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

If omitted, the returned hexadecimal 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 Binary and Hexadecimal Summary:

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

Hexadecimal

The Hexadecimal (Base 16) Numeral System uses the digits 0-9 and the characters a-f.

The following table shows the first 32 hexadecimal values, along with the equivalent decimal values:

Hexadecimal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f 20
Decimal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

For further information on the hexadecimal numeral system, see the Wikipedia Hexadecimal Page

Bin2Hex Function Examples

The following spreadsheets show five examples of the Excel Bin2Hex function.

 Formulas:
  A
1 =BIN2HEX( "10" )
2 =BIN2HEX( "0000000001" )
3 =BIN2HEX( "10", 10 )
4 =BIN2HEX( "1111111110" )
5 =BIN2HEX( "11101" )
 Results:
  A
1 2
2 1
3 0000000002
4 FFFFFFFFFE
5 1D

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


Further details and examples of the Excel Bin2Hex function are provided on the Microsoft Office website.


Bin2Hex Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Bin2Hex function this is likely to be one of the following:

Common Errors
#NUM! -

Occurs if either:

  • The supplied number argument is not recognised as a binary number or contains more than 10 characters;
  • The resulting hexadecimal 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.