WEEKDAY Function – Google Sheets

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.

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 is 1.
    • 1 – Sunday = 1, Monday = 2, through Saturday = 7
    • 2 – Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, through Sunday = 7
    • 3 – 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

YouTube player

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
Examples of the WEEKDAY Function

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
WEEKDAY and CHOOSE

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.