What is the maximum number of unique strings in Excel 2003

[jmcnamara]

Hi,

What is the maximum number of unique strings in Excel 2003?

I have estimated it as 2^23-128-1 = 8,388,479.

Is that correct?

John.
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[Joel]

I don't agree with yoiu formula or answer.

L = Longest length string
N = Number of different characters

Answer = N^L

There are a possiblilty of 256 ASCII characters. You havve to count which
charracters you arre using.

 

[Gary''s Student]

Wrong:

Just 5 character string of alphabetics is:

=26 * 36 * 26 * 26 *26

11,881,376

 

[jmcnamara]

What is the maximum number of unique strings in Excel 2003?

Given the initial replies, I should clarify:

What is the maximum number of unique strings *supported by* Excel
2003?

Adding more than 8,388,479 unique strings appears to make Excel crash.

John.
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[Niek Otten]

Hi John,
There is no published limit. I suppose that, like many other "limits" one could think of, it depends on how you create them
(formulas? Import? manual entering?) and available memory.
But I downloaded a workbook containing the complete King James' Bible:
http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/the_bible_in_excel/

You might want to try and explain what you're trying to achieve and what behavior of Excel won't let you

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel


| On Oct 31, 10:16 am, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > What is the maximum number of unique strings in Excel 2003?
|
| Given the initial replies, I should clarify:
|
| What is the maximum number of unique strings *supported by* Excel
| 2003?
|
| Adding more than 8,388,479 unique strings appears to make Excel crash.
|
| John.
| --
|
|

 

[jmcnamara]

Hi John,
There is no published limit. I suppose that, like many other "limits" one could think of, it depends on how you create them
(formulas? Import? manual entering?) and available memory.
But I downloaded a workbook containing the complete King James' Bible:http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/the_bible_in_excel/

You might want to try and explain what you're trying to achieve and what behavior of Excel
won't let you

Hi,

There isn't any real world application for this. I was just curious if
this is a known limit. It isn't mentioned is the usual "Excel
specifications and limits".

BTW, that copy of the King James Bible has only 62,018 unique
strings.

John.
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