File Numbers and Physical Log File Names

Microsoft publish the algorithm for physical to number conversion in Article ID Q171350.

To verify this requires an arbitrary precision calculator. A nice one is provided by GNU.
Click on the 'Try GMP' link to locate the calculator.

This example shows how it works: a=0, b=1 ... z=25

zzzzzzzz                                                        Decimal         Hex
||||||||___  25 + ( 0                                  ) =           25          19
|||||||____  25 + ( 26                    *         25 ) =          675         2a3
||||||_____  25 + ( 26*26                 *        675 ) =        17575        44a7
|||||______  25 + ( 26*26*26              *      17575 ) =       456975       6f90f
||||_______  25 + ( 26*26*26*26           *     456975 ) =     11881375      b54b9f
|||________  25 + ( 26*26*26*26*26        *   11881375 ) =    308915775    1269ae3f
||_________  25 + ( 26*26*26*26*26*26     *   308915775) =   8031810175   1debbb27f
|__________  25 + ( 26*26*26*26*26*26*26  *  8031810175) = 208827064575  309f1020ff


abcdwxyz                                                        Decimal         Hex
||||||||___  25 + ( 0                                  ) =           25          19
|||||||____  24 + ( 26                    *         25 ) =          674         2a2
||||||_____  23 + ( 26*26                 *        674 ) =        17547        448b
|||||______  22 + ( 26*26*26              *      17547 ) =       456244       6f634
||||_______   3 + ( 26*26*26*26           *     456244 ) =     11862347      b5014b
|||________   2 + ( 26*26*26*26*26        *   11862347 ) =   3 08421024    126221a0
||_________   1 + ( 26*26*26*26*26*26     *  308421024 ) =   8018946625   1ddf76a41
|__________   0 + ( 26*26*26*26*26*26*26  * 8018946625 ) = 208492612250  308b20ca9a


__int64 PhyToNum(char *szFile) {
    __int64 i64FileNum = 0;                                 // Counter for file Number
    int  i;                                                 // Loop Variable
    for( i=7; i >= 0; i-- ) {                               // Start from right of filename
        i64FileNum *= 26;                                   // Next power of 26
        i64FileNum += (__int64)(toupper(szFile[i]) - 'A');  // Convert the value
    }
    return (i64FileNum);
}

The inverse function Microsoft do not publish.

The function converts the file number to a lower case 8 character physical name

This example shows how it works. Note that:

32bit = 2 power 32 = 4,294,967,296 = 4GB
64bit = 2 power 64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 = 18.44 Million Terrabytes = 0x100000000

Number    208827064575  divided by  26*26*26*26*26*26*26  =  25  ----------------  8031810176
remainder   8031810175  divided by  26*26*26*26*26*26     =  25  -------------- |   308915776
remainder    308915775  divided by  26*26*26*26*26        =  25  ------------ | |    11881376
remainder     11881375  divided by  26*26*26*26           =  25  ---------- | | |      456976
remainder       456975  divided by  26*26*26              =  25  -------- | | | |       17576
remainder        17575  divided by  26*26                 =  25  ------ | | | | |         676
remainder          675  divided by  26                    =  25  ---- | | | | | |          26
remainder           25                                           -- | | | | | | |           0
                                                                  | | | | | | | |
                                                                  z z z z z z z z


Number    208492612250  divided by  26*26*26*26*26*26*26  =  25  ----------------  8031810176
remainder   7697357850  divided by  26*26*26*26*26*26     =  24  -------------- |   308915776
remainder    283379226  divided by  26*26*26*26*26        =  23  ------------ | |    11881376
remainder     10107578  divided by  26*26*26*26           =  22  ---------- | | |      456976
remainder        54106  divided by  26*26*26              =   3  -------- | | | |       17576
remainder         1378  divided by  26*26                 =   2  ------ | | | | |         676
remainder           26  divided by  26                    =   1  ---- | | | | | |          26
remainder                                                     0  -- | | | | | | |           0
                                                                  | | | | | | | |
                                                                  a b c d w x y z
void NumToPhy(char *szFile, __int64 i64FileNum) {
    int i;                                            // Loop variable
    int c;                                            // Character value     a=0 z=25
    __int64 i64Power;
     int p;
     strcpy(szFile, "        ");
    // Start from the right of the filename
    for( i=7; i >= 0; i-- ) {
       for ( p = 0, i64Power=1; p < i; p++) {
           i64Power = i64Power*26;
       }
       c = (int) (i64FileNum / i64Power);             // 0-25
       szFile[i] = (char) (c + 'a');                  // cast to lower case character
       i64FileNum = i64FileNum % i64Power;            // Calc remainder for next digit
    }
}

This function isn't used by either of the conversion functions but it's useful for capturing input.

__int64 HexStrTo__int64(char *cp) {
    unsigned int i = 0;
    __int64 j = 0;
    while (cp && *cp && isxdigit(*cp))   {
        i = *cp++ - '0';
        if (9 < i)
            i -= 7;
        j <<= 4;
        j |= (i & 0x0f);
    }
    return(j);
}