Thank you, Gord. I appreciate the confirmation that it is not necessary.
However, still wonder why it even shows up in the first place when
displaying the custom format code for the standard code?

Thanks,

Richard

"Gord Dibben" <gorddibbATshawDOTca wrote in message
...
The 409 is country or locale code number.

Not necessary to use it when custom formatting cells.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Tue, 6 Apr 2010 11:24:52 -0600, "Blue Max" wrote:

When a user selects the 14-Mar-01 standard date format in Excel 2007, then
selects the custom format option, this is the standard format that
displays:

[$-409]d-mmm-yy;@

What is the significance of the prefix "[$-409]" included with this
standard
format? Why is that prefix even necessary and is it necessary to include
the prefix for all custom date formats we create?

Thank you for any help.