Excel, DATEVALUE() Function

Aug 22, 2015 by azurous in DATEVALUE

The DATEVALUE() function receives as input a text string representing a date. The function returns as output the date value corresponding to the input date text string.

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Syntax
Basic Example
Why?
More Examples

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Contents

Syntax:

=DATEVALUE(Date_Text)

Date_Text: A text string representing a date.

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Basic Example:

In the example below, using the DATEVALUE() function the expression “Jan, 23, 2002” is converted to a date:

Result:

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Why?

You might be wondering why we would want to convert the expression “Jan, 23, 2002” to a date value using the DATEVALUE() function? Why didn’t we just write the expression “Jan, 23, 2002” in cell A1 instead of using the function below:

=DATEVALUE("Jan, 23, 2002")

The expression “Jan, 23, 2002” is a text string. The result of the function above is a date value. There are many built in functions in Excel which only accept date values:

NETWORKDAYS()
WEEKDAY()
DAYS360
…

Therefore if you wish to use those functions you must convert the date expression into a date value.

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More Examples:

Below you can see some of the accepted input text string formats. Note the output of the function in all the examples is a date value. The output date format depends on the number format chosen for the cell:

Type 1:

=DATEVALUE("01/23/2002")

Type 2:

=DATEVALUE("01/23/02")

Type 3:

=DATEVALUE("January 23, 2002")

Type 4:

=DATEVALUE("23 January 2002")

All the text expressions above result in the same date value.

Result: