I am trying to convert a column of dates that come in the format "20071101"
into
"2007-11-01" in an automated fashion (if possible in a formula since I will
include it in another one)

problem, the data is imported which means that is comes in "general" format
and needs to be in either "text" or "number" format for me to use any of the
functions like VALUE... how can I change to entire coulmn with a function so
that it converts the data to correct format? (without using TEXT TO COLUMS)

thx

How about Formatting it as 0000-00-00
??

"spreadsheet monkey" wrote:

I am trying to convert a column of dates that come in the format "20071101"
into
"2007-11-01" in an automated fashion (if possible in a formula since I will
include it in another one)

problem, the data is imported which means that is comes in "general" format
and needs to be in either "text" or "number" format for me to use any of the
functions like VALUE... how can I change to entire coulmn with a function so
that it converts the data to correct format? (without using TEXT TO COLUMS)

thx

=--TEXT(A1,"0000\-00\-00")


then format as date (important)

it works as long as a date like Feb 1 2005 comes over as

20050201

and not

200521


--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom


"spreadsheet monkey" wrote in
message ...
I am trying to convert a column of dates that come in the format "20071101"
into
"2007-11-01" in an automated fashion (if possible in a formula since I
will
include it in another one)

problem, the data is imported which means that is comes in "general"
format
and needs to be in either "text" or "number" format for me to use any of
the
functions like VALUE... how can I change to entire coulmn with a function
so
that it converts the data to correct format? (without using TEXT TO
COLUMS)

thx

While that would display it correctly it would also prevent the OP from
doing any date calculations using YEAR, MONTH etc


--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom



"Bob Umlas, Excel MVP" wrote in
message ...
How about Formatting it as 0000-00-00
??

"spreadsheet monkey" wrote:

I am trying to convert a column of dates that come in the format
"20071101"
into
"2007-11-01" in an automated fashion (if possible in a formula since I
will
include it in another one)

problem, the data is imported which means that is comes in "general"
format
and needs to be in either "text" or "number" format for me to use any of
the
functions like VALUE... how can I change to entire coulmn with a function
so
that it converts the data to correct format? (without using TEXT TO
COLUMS)

thx

If you merely wish to display the number 20071101 as 2007-11-01, you can use
the custom format 0000-00-00, or if you want to turn it into text in that
format you can use =TEXT(A1,"0000-00-00")
If you want to convert it to an Excel date for calculations, you could use
the formula =DATE(LEFT(A1,4),MID(A1,5,2),RIGHT(A1,2)), and format the result
as yyyy-mm-dd
--
David Biddulph

"spreadsheet monkey" wrote in
message ...
I am trying to convert a column of dates that come in the format "20071101"
into
"2007-11-01" in an automated fashion (if possible in a formula since I
will
include it in another one)

problem, the data is imported which means that is comes in "general"
format
and needs to be in either "text" or "number" format for me to use any of
the
functions like VALUE... how can I change to entire coulmn with a function
so
that it converts the data to correct format? (without using TEXT TO
COLUMS)

thx

You can actually convert it by using the simpler

=--TEXT(A1,"0000-00-00")


--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom



"David Biddulph" <groups [at] biddulph.org.uk wrote in message
...
If you merely wish to display the number 20071101 as 2007-11-01, you can
use the custom format 0000-00-00, or if you want to turn it into text in
that format you can use =TEXT(A1,"0000-00-00")
If you want to convert it to an Excel date for calculations, you could use
the formula =DATE(LEFT(A1,4),MID(A1,5,2),RIGHT(A1,2)), and format the
result as yyyy-mm-dd
--
David Biddulph

"spreadsheet monkey" wrote
in message ...
I am trying to convert a column of dates that come in the format
"20071101"
into
"2007-11-01" in an automated fashion (if possible in a formula since I
will
include it in another one)

problem, the data is imported which means that is comes in "general"
format
and needs to be in either "text" or "number" format for me to use any of
the
functions like VALUE... how can I change to entire coulmn with a function
so
that it converts the data to correct format? (without using TEXT TO
COLUMS)

thx