DATEVALUE function
Summary
Converts a date in the form of text to a serial number
Syntax
DATEVALUE(date_text)
The DATEVALUE function syntax has the following arguments:
• Date_text Required. Text that represents a date in an Excel date format, or a reference to a cell that contains text that represents a date in an Excel date format. For example, "1/30/2008" or "30-Jan-2008" are text strings within quotation marks that represent dates. Using the default date system in Microsoft Excel for Windows, the date_text argument must represent a date between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 9999. The DATEVALUE function returns the #VALUE! error value if the value of the date_text argument falls outside of this range. If the year portion of the date_text argument is omitted, the DATEVALUE function uses the current year from your computer's built-in clock. Time information in the date_text argument is ignored.
• Date_text Required. Text that represents a date in an Excel date format, or a reference to a cell that contains text that represents a date in an Excel date format. For example, "1/30/2008" or "30-Jan-2008" are text strings within quotation marks that represent dates. Using the default date system in Microsoft Excel for Windows, the date_text argument must represent a date between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 9999. The DATEVALUE function returns the #VALUE! error value if the value of the date_text argument falls outside of this range. If the year portion of the date_text argument is omitted, the DATEVALUE function uses the current year from your computer's built-in clock. Time information in the date_text argument is ignored.
Example
=DATEVALUE("8/22/2011")
=DATEVALUE("22-MAY-2011")
=DATEVALUE("2011/02/23")
=DATEVALUE("5-JUL")
=DATEVALUE(A2 & "/" & A3 & "/" & A4)
=DATEVALUE("22-MAY-2011")
=DATEVALUE("2011/02/23")
=DATEVALUE("5-JUL")
=DATEVALUE(A2 & "/" & A3 & "/" & A4)