actually i have a table with intervals of dates, like this:
01.07.2006 - 03.19.2006
03.06.2006 - 03.18.2006
03.14.2006 - 06.30.2006
05.24.2006 - 09.12.2006
I go to split it in order to have a numerical range so i can tell if a
date falls in this interval and i do the following

=LEFT(A2,10) and try to get their numerical value so i get
01.07.2006 #VALUE!
03.06.2006 #VALUE!
03.14.2006 #VALUE!
05.24.2006 #VALUE!
09.13.2006 #VALUE!

i try at least to substitute the "." with"-" and then i get such a
result:

01-07-2006 38899
03-06-2006 38871
03-14-2006 #VALUE!
05-24-2006 #VALUE!
09-13-2006 #VALUE!

so it is confused between "dd-mm-yy" and "mm-dd-yy" treating both the
same and getting totally error values and in the best case a numerical
value which is incorrect. what should i do?