The topological rank is a measure of the complexity of a minimal subshift that controls several coarse dynamical behavior of the system, such as the number of automorphisms of the system, the number of rationally independent eigenvalues and the rational dimension of the dimension group. Therefore, it is of interest to know how to compute this rank in concrete situations. In this talk, I will present a formula for computing the topological rank of a minimal subshift, stressing on the difference of this rank with the more classic 'measurable rank', and use it to compute the topological rank of some classes of subshifts.