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 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.

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.