--- /dev/null
+## Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Philip Nienhuis <pr.nienhuis at users.sf.net>
+##
+## This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+## the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+## Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+## version.
+##
+## This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+## ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+## FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
+## details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+## this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## Parse a string representing a range of cells for a spreadsheet
+## into nr of rows and nr of columns and also extract top left
+## cell address + top row + left column. Some error checks are implemented.
+
+## Author: Philip Nienhuis
+## Created: 2009-06-20
+## Latest update 2010-01-13
+
+function [topleft, nrows, ncols, toprow, lcol] = parse_sp_range (range_org)
+
+ range = deblank (toupper (range_org));
+ range_error = 0; nrows = 0; ncols = 0;
+
+ # Basic checks
+ if (index (range, ':') == 0)
+ if (isempty (range))
+ range_error = 0;
+ leftcol = 'A';
+ rightcol = 'A';
+ else
+ # Only upperleft cell given, just complete range to 1x1
+ # (needed for some routines)
+ range = [range ":" range];
+ endif
+ endif
+
+ # Split up both sides of the range
+ [topleft, lowerright] = strtok (range, ':');
+
+ # Get toprow and clean up left column
+ [st, en] = regexp (topleft, '\d+');
+ toprow = str2num (topleft(st:en));
+ leftcol = deblank (topleft(1:st-1));
+ [st, en1] = regexp( leftcol,'\s+');
+ if (isempty (en1))
+ en1=0;
+ endif
+ [st, en2] = regexp (leftcol,'\D+');
+ leftcol = leftcol(en1+1:en2);
+
+ # Get bottom row and clean up right column
+ [st, en] = regexp (lowerright,'\d+');
+ bottomrow = str2num (lowerright(st:en));
+ rightcol = deblank (lowerright(2:st-1));
+ [st, en1] = regexp (rightcol,'\s+');
+ if (isempty (en1))
+ en1=0;
+ endif
+ [st, en2] = regexp (rightcol,'\D+');
+ rightcol = rightcol(en1+1:en2);
+
+ # Check nr. of rows
+ nrows = bottomrow - toprow + 1;
+ if (nrows < 1)
+ range_error = 1;
+ endif
+
+ if (range_error == 0)
+ # Get left column nr.
+ [st, en] = regexp (leftcol, '\D+');
+ lcol = (leftcol(st:st) - 'A' + 1);
+ while (++st <= en)
+ lcol = lcol * 26 + (leftcol(st:st) - 'A' + 1);
+ endwhile
+
+ # Get right column nr.
+ [st, en] = regexp (rightcol, '\D+');
+ rcol = (rightcol(st:st) - 'A' + 1);
+ while (++st <= en)
+ rcol = rcol * 26 + (rightcol(st:st) - 'A' + 1);
+ endwhile
+
+ # Check
+ ncols = rcol - lcol + 1;
+ if (ncols < 1)
+ range_error = 1;
+ endif
+ endif
+
+ if (range_error > 0)
+ ncols = 0; nrows = 0;
+ error ("Spreadsheet range error! ");
+ endif
+
+endfunction
+
+%!test
+%! [a b c d e] = parse_sp_range ('A1:B2');
+%! assert ([a b c d e], ['A1', 2, 2, 1, 1]);
+
+%!test
+%! [a b c d e] = parse_sp_range ('A1:AB200');
+%! assert ([a b c d e], ['A1', 200, 28, 1, 1]);
+
+%!test
+%! [a b c d e] = parse_sp_range ('cd230:iY65536');
+%! assert ([a b c d e], ['CD230', 65307, 178, 230, 82]);
+
+%!test
+%! [a b c d e] = parse_sp_range ('BvV12798 : xFd1054786');
+%! assert ([b c d e], [1041989, 14439, 12798, 1946]);
+