Intro
Discover the Excel formula to find the day of the week, including weekday functions, date calculations, and calendar templates, to efficiently manage schedules and timelines with ease.
Determining the day of the week from a date in Excel can be very useful for various applications, such as scheduling, planning, and data analysis. Excel provides several formulas to achieve this, with the most common ones involving the WEEKDAY and TEXT functions. Here's how you can use these formulas to find the day of the week from a given date.
The WEEKDAY function returns a number from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday) representing the day of the week for a given date. The TEXT function can then be used to convert this number into the actual day of the week. Let's explore how to use these functions together.
Using the WEEKDAY Function
The syntax for the WEEKDAY function is:
WEEKDAY(serial_number, [return_type])
serial_numberis the date for which you want to find the day of the week.[return_type]is optional and specifies the day of the week to return as an integer. The default is 1, which means Sunday = 1, Monday = 2,..., Saturday = 7.
For example, if you have a date in cell A1 and you want to find the day of the week with Sunday as the first day of the week (default), you can use:
=WEEKDAY(A1)
This will return a number from 1 to 7 representing the day of the week.
Using the TEXT Function
To get the actual day of the week (e.g., "Monday", "Tuesday", etc.), you can use the TEXT function along with the WEEKDAY function. The syntax for the TEXT function is:
TEXT(date, format_text)
Here, date is the date you want to format, and format_text is the format you want to apply.
To get the full day of the week, you can use the following formula:
=TEXT(A1,"dddd")
This formula directly formats the date in cell A1 as the full day of the week ("Sunday" through "Saturday").
Combining WEEKDAY and TEXT for Custom Formats
If you want more control over the output or need to use the day of the week in further calculations, combining WEEKDAY with TEXT or using TEXT directly can be useful. However, for most purposes, the TEXT function with the "dddd" format specifier is the most straightforward way to get the full day of the week from a date.
Additional Tips
- Date Input: Make sure your date is recognized as a date by Excel. You can check this by ensuring the cell containing the date is formatted as a date. If Excel doesn't recognize your date, you might need to adjust your system settings or the date format in the cell.
- Language and Regional Settings: The day of the week names returned by the
TEXTfunction are dependent on your system's language and regional settings. If you need the day names in a specific language, ensure your system settings reflect this. - Custom Day of the Week Calculations: If you need to calculate the day of the week based on a custom start day (e.g., Monday as the first day of the week), you can adjust the
WEEKDAYfunction's return type. For instance, to consider Monday as the first day (1) and Sunday as the last day (7), use=WEEKDAY(A1,2).
Example Usage
Suppose you have a list of dates in column A of your Excel sheet, and you want to find the day of the week for each date. You can use the TEXT function in column B as follows:
| Date | Day of the Week |
|---|---|
| 2023-04-01 | =TEXT(A2,"dddd") |
| 2023-04-02 | =TEXT(A3,"dddd") |
| ... | ... |
By copying the formula down, you'll get the day of the week for each date in your list.
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Gallery of Excel Formula Examples for Day of the Week
Excel Formula Examples for Day of the Week
FAQs
What is the WEEKDAY function in Excel?
+The WEEKDAY function returns a number from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday) representing the day of the week for a given date.
How do I get the full day of the week in Excel?
+You can use the TEXT function with the "dddd" format specifier, such as =TEXT(A1,"dddd"), where A1 is the cell containing the date.
Can I change the first day of the week in the WEEKDAY function?
+Yes, you can change the first day of the week by using the optional return_type argument in the WEEKDAY function. For example, =WEEKDAY(A1,2) considers Monday as the first day of the week.
If you have any further questions or need more assistance with using Excel formulas to determine the day of the week, feel free to ask in the comments below. Don't forget to share this article with anyone who might find it helpful, and consider subscribing for more tips and tricks on using Excel and other productivity software.