PowerShell Base 36 functions

Base 36 is the most compact case-insensitive alphanumeric numbering system. Base 36 is used for Dell Express Service Codes, website url shorteners and many other applications which have a need to minimise human error.

Convert from Decimal (base 10) to Base 36:

function convertTo-Base36
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param ([parameter(valuefrompipeline=$true, HelpMessage="Integer number to convert")][int]$decNum="")
    $alphabet = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"

    do
    {
        $remainder = ($decNum % 36)
        $char = $alphabet.substring($remainder,1)
        $base36Num = "$char$base36Num"
        $decNum = ($decNum - $remainder) / 36
    }
    while ($decNum -gt 0)

    $base36Num
}

# source: adapted from Tony Marston's PHP code

Convert from Base 36 back to Decimal:

function convertFrom-base36
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param ([parameter(valuefrompipeline=$true, HelpMessage="Alphadecimal string to convert")][string]$base36Num="")
    $alphabet = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    $inputarray = $base36Num.tolower().tochararray()
    [array]::reverse($inputarray)
    [long]$decNum=0
    $pos=0

    foreach ($c in $inputarray)
    {
        $decNum += $alphabet.IndexOf($c) * [long][Math]::Pow(36, $pos)
        $pos++
    }
    $decNum
}

# source: Mirko's Blog

Examples

PS C:\> convertTo-Base36 1645205
Z9G5

PS C:\> convertFrom-base36 z9g5
1645205

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be” - John Wooden

Related PowerShell Cmdlets:

Online base 36 converter (Javascript)