Formulas and Functions

Chapter 3 Date and Time Functions 47
DATEVALUE
The DATEVALUE function converts a date text string and returns a date/time value. This
function is provided for compatibility with other spreadsheet programs.
DATEVALUE(date-text)
 date-text: The date string to be converted. date-text is a string value. It must be a
date specied within quotations or a date/time value. If date-text is not a valid date,
an error is returned.
Examples
If cell B1 contains the date/time value August 2, 1979 06:30:00 and cell C1 contains the string
10/16/2008:
=DATEVALUE(B1) returns Aug 2, 1979, and is treated as a date value if referenced in other formulas.
The value returned is formatted according to the current cell format. A cell formatted as Automatic
uses the date format specied in System Preferences (search for “date format” in the System
Preferences window).
=DATEVALUE(C1) returns Oct 16, 2008.
=DATEVALUE(“12/29/1974”) returns Dec 29, 1979.
Related Topics
For related functions and additional information, see:
“DATE” on page 44
“TIME” on page 56
“Listing of Date and Time Functions” on page 42
“Value Types” on page 36
“The Elements of Formulas” on page 15
“Using the Keyboard and Mouse to Create and Edit Formulas” on page 26
“Pasting from Examples in Help” on page 41
DAY
The DAY function returns the day of the month for a given date/time value.
DAY(date)
 date: The date the function should use. date is a date/time value. The time portion
is ignored by this function.