convert a text date to a true date

I am out of ideas. Excelâ„¢ XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely 5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Accessâ„¢ database.

Thanks for any suggestions

I have a situation where my dates come to me as 1071114 (107 is the year, 11,
is the month and 14 is the day). I use the formula
=date(left(a1,3),mid(a1,4,2),right(a1,2)) and it converts to 11/14/2007. May
take a bit of modification but it should work for you.

Luck

"JR Hester" wrote:

I am out of ideas. Excelâ„¢ XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely 5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Accessâ„¢ database.

Thanks for any suggestions

Thanks Tom for that. MAybe I should be a bit more specific.
My dates are text such as
Sunday, March 3, 2002
Wednesday, April 11, 2004
Friday, December 20, 2003
and so forth.



"Tom" wrote:

I have a situation where my dates come to me as 1071114 (107 is the year, 11,
is the month and 14 is the day). I use the formula
=date(left(a1,3),mid(a1,4,2),right(a1,2)) and it converts to 11/14/2007. May
take a bit of modification but it should work for you.

Luck

"JR Hester" wrote:

I am out of ideas. Excelâ„¢ XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely 5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Accessâ„¢ database.

Thanks for any suggestions

If these are indeed TEXT entries you can use Text to Columns to convert
them. You'll lose the dddd portion but retain the date portion.

Select the range of cells in question
Goto the menu DataText to Columns
Select DelimitedNextselect both Comma and SpaceNext
In Step 3 the first partition should be highlighted in the data preview box.
Select Do not import
Finish

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"JR Hester" wrote in message
news
I am out of ideas. ExcelT XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely
5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is
displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into
a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an AccessT
database.

Thanks for any suggestions

Assuming your first date is in A2, put this formula in the 2nd row of a help
column...

=DATE(RIGHT(A2,2),MID(A2,FIND("-",A2)-2,2),MID(A2,FIND("-",A2)+1,LEN(A2)-3-FIND("-",A2)))

and copy it down through all the rows that have dates in them. Then select
all the dates in this helper column and Edit/Copy (or Ctrl+C) them; then
select A2 (the first cell containing the original date) and click
Edit/PasteSpecial in Excel's menu bar; select Values from the option list
and hit OK; then delete the helper column and format the newly copied dates
however you want them to look.

Rick


"JR Hester" wrote in message
news
I am out of ideas. Excelâ„¢ XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely
5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is
displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into
a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Accessâ„¢
database.

Thanks for any suggestions

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:36:02 -0800, JR Hester
wrote:

I am out of ideas. Excel™ XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely 5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Access™ database.

Thanks for any suggestions


=--MID(A1,FIND(",",A1)+2,255)

Format as date
--ron

Hmmm...

with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format

My dates are text such as Sunday, March 3, 2002
Wednesday, April 11, 2004

Well, I went by your first post:

with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format

Meaning: Wednesday, 11/14/07

So, I don't think T to C will work on

My dates are text such as Sunday, March 3, 2002
Wednesday, April 11, 2004


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"T. Valko" wrote in message
...
If these are indeed TEXT entries you can use Text to Columns to convert
them. You'll lose the dddd portion but retain the date portion.

Select the range of cells in question
Goto the menu DataText to Columns
Select DelimitedNextselect both Comma and SpaceNext
In Step 3 the first partition should be highlighted in the data preview
box.
Select Do not import
Finish

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"JR Hester" wrote in message
news
I am out of ideas. ExcelT XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely
5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to
be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is
displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries
into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an AccessT
database.

Thanks for any suggestions

Given the different date format that you just posted in JR Hester's
subthread, use this formula in the help column using the procedure I
outlined instead of the formula I originally posted...

=--SUBSTITUTE(A2,LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)),"")

Rick


"Rick Rothstein (MVP - VB)" wrote in
message ...
Assuming your first date is in A2, put this formula in the 2nd row of a
help column...

=DATE(RIGHT(A2,2),MID(A2,FIND("-",A2)-2,2),MID(A2,FIND("-",A2)+1,LEN(A2)-3-FIND("-",A2)))

and copy it down through all the rows that have dates in them. Then select
all the dates in this helper column and Edit/Copy (or Ctrl+C) them; then
select A2 (the first cell containing the original date) and click
Edit/PasteSpecial in Excel's menu bar; select Values from the option list
and hit OK; then delete the helper column and format the newly copied
dates however you want them to look.

Rick


"JR Hester" wrote in message
news
I am out of ideas. Excelâ„¢ XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely
5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to
be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is
displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries
into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Accessâ„¢
database.

Thanks for any suggestions

Rick,

this doesn't work in the UK, as

March 3, 2002

is not a valid date string. I'll post my solution direct to the OP.

Pete

On Nov 14, 11:08 pm, "Rick Rothstein \(MVP - VB\)"
wrote:
Given the different date format that you just posted in JR Hester's
subthread, use this formula in the help column using the procedure I
outlined instead of the formula I originally posted...

=--SUBSTITUTE(A2,LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)),"")

Rick

"Rick Rothstein (MVP - VB)" wrote in
l...



Assuming your first date is in A2, put this formula in the 2nd row of a
help column...

=DATE(RIGHT(A2,2),MID(A2,FIND("-",A2)-2,2),MID(A2,FIND("-",A2)+1,LEN(A2)-3--FIND("-",A2)))

and copy it down through all the rows that have dates in them. Then select
all the dates in this helper column and Edit/Copy (or Ctrl+C) them; then
select A2 (the first cell containing the original date) and click
Edit/PasteSpecial in Excel's menu bar; select Values from the option list
and hit OK; then delete the helper column and format the newly copied
dates however you want them to look.

Rick

"JR Hester" wrote in message
news
I am out of ideas. Excel(tm) XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely
5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to
be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is
displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries
into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Access(tm)
database.

Thanks for any suggestions- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Assuming the date text is in I11:

=DATEVALUE(RIGHT(I11,LEN(I11)-FIND("^^",SUBSTITUTE(I11,",","^^",
1))-1))

Will work for all three examples cited, as well as others I can think
of. The requirement is that the weekday name be followed by a comma,
and the rest of the string an Excel-recognized date display. For
instance, these will all work:

Monday, 3/3/02
Monday, Aug 10 (assumes current year)
randomtext, Aug-12 (assumes current year)
randomtext, Aug 12, 2005

Will work also for differing regional setting, assuming the weekday
followed by comma requirement is met.

On Nov 14, 5:56 pm, JR Hester
wrote:
Thanks Tom for that. MAybe I should be a bit more specific.
My dates are text such as
Sunday, March 3, 2002
Wednesday, April 11, 2004
Friday, December 20, 2003
and so forth.



"Tom" wrote:
I have a situation where my dates come to me as 1071114 (107 is the year, 11,
is the month and 14 is the day). I use the formula
=date(left(a1,3),mid(a1,4,2),right(a1,2)) and it converts to 11/14/2007. May
take a bit of modification but it should work for you.

Luck

"JR Hester" wrote:

I am out of ideas. Excel(tm) XP on WinnXP.
I have acquired a spreadsheet "database" from another user. approximayely 5K
records with dates in the dddd, m-d-yy format, although these appear to be
stored as text. Changing the format does not change theway data is displayed.
Cells were originally formatted as General.

Can anyone offer a simple formula method to change these text entries into a
true date format? I am in process of importing info into an Access(tm) database.

Thanks for any suggestions- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -