Formula to convert *any* word into a number?

[rrrr0000]

Hello. I have searched up and down and have not found a suitable solution here. But I am basically looking for a formula to turn ANY word into a number. But I do not have a list of specific words. We are talking any word in the English language. As in, take any sentence you can find, and convert it to number strings with SOME kind of consistent logic applied.

Maybe something like assigning a value to each letter and then taking the sum value of all the letters to create one number per word? Or just creating a string where a numerical value for each letter is just appeneded to a string? Like if a=1 and t=21 then the word "at" could be =22 (1+21), or =121 (1&21)... maybe something like that?

I imagine I could split each word into a separate letter in each cell, then assign a value for each letter in each cell, but it could end up being like 10,000 columns... and then I would to recombine them and maintain the spacing/separation somehow. Not sure if this makes sense to anyone. But some extra brainpower would be appreciated. I don't have any defined parameters for method or preferred values.

This is just step one for a fun personal project. Thanks in advance for your time!

For example just for illustration - the numbers here are meaningless and not specific to any logic - just to give you an idea:

The	quick	brown	fox	jumps	over	the	lazy	dog
83343	44553	1772	54546464	541426	46656893	246890	57513	53235

 

[rrrr0000]

UPDATE: No need to respond, I figured out a solution that will work.

 

[rlv01]

Use a hashing function (which I found here)

Function ConvertAnyWord2Number(Word As String) As Long
    Dim S As String, Ch As String, N As Long, I As Long
   
    S = Base64Sha1(Word)
    For I = 1 To Len(S)
        Ch = Mid(S, I, 1)
        N = N + asc(Ch)
    Next I
    ConvertAnyWord2Number = N
End Function

Private Function Base64Sha1(inputText As String, Optional secretKey = "") As String
   
    Dim asc As Object
    Dim enc As Object
    Dim textToHash() As Byte
    Dim SharedSecretKey() As Byte
    Dim bytes() As Byte
   
    If secretKey = "" Then secretKey = inputText
   
    Set asc = CreateObject("System.Text.UTF8Encoding")
    Set enc = CreateObject("System.Security.Cryptography.HMACSHA1")
   
    textToHash = asc.GetBytes_4(inputText)
    SharedSecretKey = asc.GetBytes_4(secretKey)
    enc.Key = SharedSecretKey
   
    bytes = enc.ComputeHash_2((textToHash))
    Base64Sha1 = EncodeBase64(bytes)
   
End Function

Private Function EncodeBase64(arrData() As Byte) As String
   
    Dim objXML As Object
    Dim objNode As Object
   
    Set objXML = CreateObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument")
    Set objNode = objXML.createElement("b64")
   
    objNode.DataType = "bin.base64"
    objNode.nodeTypedValue = arrData
    EncodeBase64 = objNode.Text
End Function

 

[rrrr0000]

thank you rlv01. I ended up using another solution -- just a riduclously long nested SUBSTITUTE formula with every letter of the alphabet mapped to a number and somehow managed to get the correct amount of open and closed parenthesis

 

[rlv01]

UPDATE: No need to respond, I figured out a solution that will work.

Glad you figured out a solution. I'll leave you with a final thought that only applies if the reason you are doing this involves security (i.e. passwords or access authorizations): homegrown hashing methods have proven time and again to be much easier to crack that their authors ever assume. Don't rely on them for any situation were the security required is more than trivial.

 

[rrrr0000]

Ah... thanks. No it's for an art project. Turning words into shapes, that sort of thing.

But your suggestion does bring up an idea. Maybe just input sentences into a security key generator. That could work too!