MS Excel: FORMAT Function with Dates (VBA)
In Microsoft Excel, the FORMAT function takes an expression and returns it as a formatted string.
Syntax
The syntax for the FORMAT function is:
Format ( expression, [ format, [ firstdayofweek, [firstweekofyear] ] ] )
expression is the value to format.
format is optional. It is the format to apply to the expression. You can either define your own format or use one of the named formats that Excel has predefined such as:
| Format | Explanation |
|---|---|
| General Date | Displays date based on your system settings |
| Long Date | Displays date based on your system's long date setting |
| Medium Date | Displays date based on your system's medium date setting |
| Short Date | Displays date based on your system's short date setting |
| Long Time | Displays time based on your system's long time setting |
| Medium Time | Displays time based on your system's medium time setting |
| Short Time | Displays time based on your system's short time setting |
firstdayofweek is optional. It is a value that specifies the first day of the week. If this parameter is omitted, the FORMAT function assumes that Sunday is the first day of the week. This parameter can be one of the following values:
| Constant | Value | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| vbUseSystem | 0 | Uses the NLS API setting |
| VbSunday | 1 | Sunday (default, if parameter is omitted) |
| vbMonday | 2 | Monday |
| vbTuesday | 3 | Tuesday |
| vbWednesday | 4 | Wednesday |
| vbThursday | 5 | Thursday |
| vbFriday | 6 | Friday |
| vbSaturday | 7 | Saturday |
firstweekofyear is optional. It is a value that specifies the first week of the year. If this parameter is omitted, the FORMAT function assumes that the week that contains January 1 is the first week of the year. This parameter can be one of the following values:
| Constant | Value | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| vbUseSystem | 0 | Uses the NLS API setting |
| vbFirstJan1 | 1 | The week that contains January 1 |
| vbFirstFourDays | 2 | The first week that has at least 4 days in the year |
| vbFirstFullWeek | 3 | The first full week of the year |
Applies To
- Excel 2013, Excel 2011 for Mac, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP, Excel 2000
Type of Function
- VBA function (VBA)
VBA Function Example
The FORMAT function can only be used in VBA code. Here are some examples of what the FORMAT function would return:
| Format(#17/04/2004#, "Short Date") | would return '17/04/2004' |
| Format(#17/04/2004#, "Long Date") | would return 'April 17, 2004' |
| Format(#17/04/2004#, "yyyy/mm/dd") | would return '2004/04/17' |
For example:
Dim LValue As String LValue = Format(Date, "yyyy/mm/dd")
In this example, the variable called LValue would now contain the date formatted as yyyy/mm/dd.