Datevalue

Datevalue is a function found in spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets that converts a date expressed as text into a numeric date value. The resulting number represents the date in the program’s internal date system, enabling date arithmetic, sorting, and formatting. Since dates are stored as numbers, applying a date format allows them to be displayed as conventional calendar dates.

In Excel, the function is written as DATEVALUE(date_text). The input can be a text string that describes a date or a reference to a cell containing such text. The function returns a serial number corresponding to the date, which can then be formatted as a date. If date_text cannot be interpreted as a valid date, Excel returns an error value (#VALUE!). Times included in the input are ignored by DATEVALUE; to preserve time information, other functions such as TIMEVALUE or combining DATE with TIME can be used.

In Google Sheets, the syntax is DATEVALUE(date_value). Google Sheets similarly converts textual dates to a numeric serial used for calculations. Date parsing is locale-aware, and the function can handle a variety of common date formats; ambiguous strings may lead to errors or unexpected results. Like Excel, the numeric result can be formatted to display as a date. Sheets uses a base serial date compatible with its internal date system, and users can convert back with other date functions such as DATE.

Datevalue is often used to normalize date data that begins as text, enabling consistent date operations, comparisons, and chronological analysis. It differs from DATE, which constructs a date from explicit year, month, and day components.