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Understanding Date and Time Formatting Codes

Summary: Dates, which are stored internally by Excel as numbers, can be formatted in a wide variety of ways. There are built-in formats for dates, but you can also create custom formats that display the dates in any way you want. This tip explains the codes you can use for creating custom formats for dates and times. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

In Excel, dates and times are stored internally as numbers. These are only converted to legible dates and times when you format the cell using a date or time format. The following table lists the formatting codes that are specific to dates and times. You use these codes when you are creating a custom display format (Format | Cells | Number tab | Custom).

Symbol		Meaning
m		Displays the month or minutes as a number without a leading 0
mm		Displays the month or minutes as a number with a leading 0
mmm		Displays the month as abbreviated text (Jan, Feb, Mar, and so on)
mmmm		Displays the month as text (January, February, March, and so on)
d		Displays the day of the month as a number without a leading 0
dd		Displays the day of the month as a number with a leading 0
ddd		Displays the day of the week as abbreviated text (Sun, Mon, Tue, and so on)
dddd		Displays the day of the week as text (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and so on)
yy		Displays the year with two digits
yyyy		Displays the year with four digits
h		Displays the hour without a leading 0
hh		Displays the hour with a leading 0
s		Displays the seconds without a leading 0
ss		Displays the seconds with a leading 0
[ ]		When surrounding hours, minutes, or seconds place holders, displays hours greater than 24 or minutes and seconds greater than 60
AM am PM pm A a P p		Uses a 12-hour clock, displaying AM or PM as specified
\		Forces display of the following character
. (period)		The decimal point.
"text"		Displays the text within the quotes.

To understand better the effect of the date and time codes, take a look at the following information, which shows several common date and time formats and how they affect numbers.

Category	Format	Value	Displayed As
Date	m/d/yy	34369	2/4/94
	d-mmm-yy	34409	16-Mar-94
Time	h:mm AM/PM	0.654166667	3:42 PM
	[h]:mm:ss	2.592673611	62:13:27

Notice that the numbers shown in the value column of these examples are the internal values stored by Excel for dates and times.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2179) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Understanding Date and Time Formatting Codes