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Excel Serial Date to Day, Month, Year and Vice Versa

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12 Aug 2002CDDL2 min read 409.6K   31   38
A speedy algorithm to convert Excel numbers to DMY and vice versa

Introduction

For a little project of mine, I needed to convert a serial date number to day/month/year (DMY) and vice versa. The serial number came from date field in a converted Paradox database and seemed to be exactly the same as the serial date in Microsoft Excel, hence the article name. After some Googling, I learned that the Excel serial date is related to Julian date, and found a speedy algorithm to convert these numbers to DMY and vice versa.

Excel Serial Date Number

Now what is an Excel serial date number? 37477 is a serial date number and is the number of days since 1-1-1900. 37477 actually translates to Aug 9, 2002, the date of writing this article.

The number of days since 1-1-1900 isn't that hard to calculate of course, once you know the leap years. Microsoft Excel however contains a bug with its date calculation: it considers 29-02-1900 as a valid date, but 1900 isn't a leap year! 29-02-1900 is not a valid date!

According to the stories, Microsoft decided to duplicate this date bug from Lotus 123, which was the dominating spreadsheet application at the time Excel was being written. This allowed Excel to open Lotus 123 spreadsheets without date problems.

(Note that a serial date number may also contain a fraction that denotes the time. It's actually the percentage of 24 hours, but that's not for this article.)

Mac Excel Serial Date number

Excel on the Apple Mac uses a slightly different Serial Date number base: the number of days since 1-1-1904. That's why Excel also features a "1904 Date System" checkbox in its Options (Calculation tab). I won't go into this further.

Translating Serial Date Number to DMY

First of all, credit where credit is due. I got the basic algorithm from here. It's about converting a Julian date to DMY using integer calculations. I won't bore you with the theory (following the above hyperlink), but the original Julian has a different base date.

With an addition of a certain number, the algorithm comes close to the Excel serial date. And when the 29-02-1900 issue is handled, we've got an Excel serial date to Day, Month, Year calculation!

C++
void ExcelSerialDateToDMY(int nSerialDate, int &nDay, 
                          int &nMonth, int &nYear)
{
    // Excel/Lotus 123 have a bug with 29-02-1900. 1900 is not a
    // leap year, but Excel/Lotus 123 think it is...
    if (nSerialDate == 60)
    {
        nDay    = 29;
        nMonth    = 2;
        nYear    = 1900;

        return;
    }
    else if (nSerialDate < 60)
    {
        // Because of the 29-02-1900 bug, any serial date 
        // under 60 is one off... Compensate.
        nSerialDate++;
    }

    // Modified Julian to DMY calculation with an addition of 2415019
    int l = nSerialDate + 68569 + 2415019;
    int n = int(( 4 * l ) / 146097);
            l = l - int(( 146097 * n + 3 ) / 4);
    int i = int(( 4000 * ( l + 1 ) ) / 1461001);
        l = l - int(( 1461 * i ) / 4) + 31;
    int j = int(( 80 * l ) / 2447);
     nDay = l - int(( 2447 * j ) / 80);
        l = int(j / 11);
        nMonth = j + 2 - ( 12 * l );
    nYear = 100 * ( n - 49 ) + i + l;
}

DMY to Excel Serial Date

Calculate an Excel serial date from Day, Month, Year. The function assumes that the day, month and year are valid date numbers.

C++
int DMYToExcelSerialDate(int nDay, int nMonth, int nYear)
{
    // Excel/Lotus 123 have a bug with 29-02-1900. 1900 is not a
    // leap year, but Excel/Lotus 123 think it is...
    if (nDay == 29 && nMonth == 02 && nYear==1900)
        return 60;

    // DMY to Modified Julian calculated with an extra subtraction of 2415019.
    long nSerialDate = 
            int(( 1461 * ( nYear + 4800 + int(( nMonth - 14 ) / 12) ) ) / 4) +
            int(( 367 * ( nMonth - 2 - 12 * ( ( nMonth - 14 ) / 12 ) ) ) / 12) -
            int(( 3 * ( int(( nYear + 4900 + int(( nMonth - 14 ) / 12) ) / 100) ) ) / 4) +
            nDay - 2415019 - 32075;

    if (nSerialDate < 60)
    {
        // Because of the 29-02-1900 bug, any serial date 
        // under 60 is one off... Compensate.
        nSerialDate--;
    }

    return (int)nSerialDate;
}

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior)
Netherlands Netherlands
Victor is consulting in The Netherlands.

His interests include Windows and web application development using .NET technologies and even some Apache/PHP/MySQL...

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionDateTime.ToOADate() Pin
dietmar paul schoder29-Jul-14 5:27
professionaldietmar paul schoder29-Jul-14 5:27 
Questionseriel no to DMY Pin
rbsshetty2-Dec-12 1:39
rbsshetty2-Dec-12 1:39 
QuestionAlternative Pin
JamesHoward97224-Jan-12 22:33
JamesHoward97224-Jan-12 22:33 
SuggestionDifferent Alg Pin
Memonic15-Dec-11 7:02
Memonic15-Dec-11 7:02 
GeneralRe: Different Alg Pin
Victor Vogelpoel15-Dec-11 9:01
Victor Vogelpoel15-Dec-11 9:01 
GeneralThanks. Pin
sriest10-Jul-09 10:01
sriest10-Jul-09 10:01 
GeneralHi. Thanks for the invaluable contribution. I have found a bug.... Pin
Ervin Bosenbacher18-Nov-08 6:57
Ervin Bosenbacher18-Nov-08 6:57 
QuestionError in Excel Serial Date to DMY ?? Pin
Harry Adams17-Sep-08 17:33
Harry Adams17-Sep-08 17:33 
GeneralPorted to PHP and fixed Pin
Lubosdz9-Aug-07 0:19
Lubosdz9-Aug-07 0:19 
QuestionWorks great for date, what about for time? Pin
TariAbay29-Jul-07 20:19
TariAbay29-Jul-07 20:19 
AnswerRe: Works great for date, what about for time? Pin
cdpc4-Aug-10 16:26
cdpc4-Aug-10 16:26 
GeneralYEAR Pin
gtown717-May-07 4:20
gtown717-May-07 4:20 
GeneralGoing off after Febuvary... Pin
vijaicmo12-Mar-07 0:23
vijaicmo12-Mar-07 0:23 
QuestionBut how can I know if the cell value is a Date? Pin
stanley guan7-Oct-05 16:51
stanley guan7-Oct-05 16:51 
AnswerRe: But how can I know if the cell value is a Date? Pin
Victor Vogelpoel7-Oct-05 22:56
Victor Vogelpoel7-Oct-05 22:56 
GeneralRe: But how can I know if the cell value is a Date? Pin
Suunil21-Aug-09 2:21
Suunil21-Aug-09 2:21 
GeneralRe: But how can I know if the cell value is a Date? Pin
Victor Vogelpoel23-Aug-09 23:51
Victor Vogelpoel23-Aug-09 23:51 
GeneralNumber off by 183 Pin
Anonymous29-Aug-05 4:33
Anonymous29-Aug-05 4:33 
GeneralRe: Number off by 183 Pin
Anonymous29-Aug-05 6:03
Anonymous29-Aug-05 6:03 
GeneralDMYToExcelSerialDate doesn't work for 28th Feb 1900 Pin
crusby9-Feb-05 23:09
crusby9-Feb-05 23:09 
GeneralRe: DMYToExcelSerialDate doesn't work for 28th Feb 1900 Pin
Victor Vogelpoel10-Feb-05 10:10
Victor Vogelpoel10-Feb-05 10:10 
Generaldoesn't work in months input &gt; 12 Pin
Anonymous24-Jun-04 12:23
Anonymous24-Jun-04 12:23 
GeneralRe: doesn't work in months input > 12 Pin
Victor Vogelpoel24-Jun-04 22:54
Victor Vogelpoel24-Jun-04 22:54 
GeneralThanks - Would like some clarifications Pin
jocompto4-May-04 9:11
jocompto4-May-04 9:11 
GeneralRe: Thanks - Would like some clarifications Pin
Victor Vogelpoel4-May-04 10:29
Victor Vogelpoel4-May-04 10:29 

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