Chapter 13 - Date and Time Functions

CHAPTER 13 - DATE AND TIME FUNCTIONS

13.1 Returning Date Information

Returning Parts of a Date

The following functions return parts of a given date:

Wise The WEEKDAY function has an optional second argument called the return type.
Owl’s By default, Sunday is the first day of the week (hence why the Thursday above
Hint shows up as 5), but if you set the return type to 2, for example, Monday will be the
first day of the week.

Returning today’s Date/Time

You can use the following functions to get today’s date and/or time:

Wise
You can press Ctrl + ; (semi-colon) to put the current date into a cell, and Ctrl
Owl’s
Hint
+ : (colon) to put the current time in, but be aware that these are static values
which won’t subsequently update.

© Copyright 2019 Page 75

 Chapter 13 - Date and Time Functions

Returning Parts of a Time

The following functions get the hour, minute or second for a given date/time:

Converting Numbers/Text into Dates/Times

You can use the following date conversion functions:

Alternatively, use the following functions to convert to times:

© Copyright 2019 Page 76

 Chapter 13 - Date and Time Functions

13.2 Manipulating Dates

Returning Different Dates

There are a host of useful functions which return one date, given another:

Wise The WORKDAY function also allows you to specify a third argument containing a
Owl’s range of bank holidays to be treated as non-working days. There is also a
Hint WORKDAY.INTL function which allows you to customise what counts as a
weekend also.

Returning the Difference between Dates

Excel has a rich range of functions for taking the difference between two dates (of course, the
easiest method is just to subtract one date from another):

Wise The NETWORKDAYS function allows you to specify a 3rd argument to list out a
Owl’s range containing bank holidays which should not be treated as working days, while
Hint the NETWORKDAYS.INTL function allows you to customise what counts as a
weekend.

© Copyright 2019 Page 77