The WEEKDAY function accepts a date and returns the number for the day of the week.
The date must be in a valid format, so you have to use the DATE function, wrap it in quotes, or use a cell reference to a cell containing a date. If your days, months, and years are in different cells, use the DATE function to combine them.
Contents
Syntax
=WEEKDAY(date,[type])
date
– The date for which you want the week number. This date is required.[type]
– Optional specification of which number scheme to use for the days of the week. The default is1
.1
– Sunday = 1, Monday = 2, through Saturday = 72
– Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, through Sunday = 73
– Monday = 0, Tuesday = 1, through Sunday = 6
Related Functions
DATE – Takes separate year, month, and day values and returns them as a date
DATEVALUE – Returns the serial value of a date
DAY – Returns the value of the day from a given date
Video Tutorial
Errors
#NUM! – The date
is out of range or the type
is not an accepted number.
#VALUE! – The input for date
or type
is not a number such as “The other day” or “Yester-yester-day.”
Examples
Example 1 – Simple Scenarios
![The WEEKDAY function with different inputs and outputs](https://sheetshelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WEEKDAY-example2.png)
The image above contains several simple examples of the WEEKDAY
function. If the input is valid, you will get a result between 1 and 7.
Example 2 – Return Weekday as Text
If you combine the CHOOSE
function with WEEKDAY
, the output of WEEKDAY
serves as the index
to choose the text. It’s your choice if you use full-day names such as Sunday, or abbreviations as shown below.
![WEEKDAY and CHOOSE returning the day of the week as a string](https://sheetshelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WEEKDAY-example3.png)
Live Examples in Sheets
Go to this spreadsheet for the examples of the WEEKDAY function shown above that you can study and use anywhere you would like.
See Also
- This tutorial shows two methods to return the day of the week as text instead of a number.
- You can extend the WEEKDAY function using VLOOKUP to map the output to a text string.