The Microsoft Excel File Format - OpenOffice.org

3 Formulas
3.3 Cell Addresses in Tokens
All tokens containing cell addresses (with the two components row and column) store them in the same format. There are
differences in storing relative components of an address.
3.3.1 Absolute and Relative Components of a Cell Address
An absolute component of an address (for example the row in B$6) points always to the same fixed row or column. It is
stored with its zero-based index (the value 0 refers to row 1 or column A).
To store a relative component (for example the column in B$6), there are two different ways used in an Excel file:
• In method [A], the reference component is stored equally to absolute components (with its zero-based index), together
with the information, that the component is relative.
• In method [B], a signed offset is stored for the reference component. The resulting address can be calculated later from
the position in the current context (for example the cell position in which a defined name is used).
The following table shows which formula type in Excel uses which method to store relative components:
Method
[A]
[B]
Formula type
Cell formulas (➜4.7), array formulas (➜4.8)
Shared formulas (➜4.8), conditional formatting (➜4.12), data validity (➜4.14), defined names (➜4.10)
Example for method [A]: The reference in the cell formula =C4 is stored in a tRef token (➜3.9.2). Regardless of
the position of the formula, the token always contains the row index 3 (zero-based index for row 4) and the
column index 2 (zero-based column index for column C), together with two flags, that row and column indexes
are relative. These flags are used for example when the cell is copied to another position (to adjust the relative
reference components), but they do not influence the evaluation of the formula.
Example for method [B]: The reference in the condition =C4 in a conditional formatting, entered in cell A7, is
stored in a tRefN token (➜3.9.10). The token does not contain the address C4 itself, but the difference to the
base cell A7, therefore it contains the row offset –3 (three rows up) and the column offset +2 (2 columns to the
right). If the same conditional formatting is copied, the token will not be modified, because it only contains
offset values, and not an explicit cell address. If it is copied for example to cell B8, the condition will refer to
cell D5 (three rows up and 2 columns to the right from cell B8).
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