The Microsoft Excel File Format - OpenOffice.org

3 Formulas
3 Formulas
3.1 Common Formula Structure
3.1.1 Common Structure
Formulas are stored as part of a record, for instance inside of a FORMULA record or a DEFINEDNAME record. The
common format of a formula is as follows:
Formula in BIFF2:
Offset Size Contents
0 1 Size of the following formula data (RPN token array, sz)
1 sz Formula data (RPN token array)
[1+sz] var. (optional) Additional data for specific tokens (➜3.1.6, for example tArray token, ➜3.8.7)
Formula in BIFF3-BIFF8:
Offset Size Contents
0 2 Size of the following formula data (sz)
2 sz Formula data (RPN token array)
[2+sz] var. (optional) Additional data for specific tokens (➜3.1.6, for example tArray token, ➜3.8.7)
Sometimes the size field is not stored directly before the RPN token array, but somewhere else. If this happens, it will be
mentioned at the respective place. If there does not exist any formula data, only the size field (which contains 0 then) is
present.
3.1.2 Tokens
Definition: Formula token
Formula tokens are the indivisible particles of a formula. There might be operators, numerical or string constants
or function names.
Each token contains a token identifier. Several tokens contain additional information. A token does not contain any size
information, so importing and exporting tokens must be done carefully.
Common structure of a formula token, BIFF2-BIFF8:
Offset Size Contents
0 1 Token identifier
[1] var. (optional) Additional data for the token
28