Convert text to dates
 

Hello,

I am using Windows XP with Office XP. I have two columns. Column A
contains months of the year in the format January, March December etc.
Column B contains dates in the format 11th, 16th, 20th etc.
Is it possible to combine these two cells to produce a date? Can a
sort then be undertaken on this new date column so that all
information is sorted chronologically?
I tried using concatenate to combine the cells but couldn't get them
to be recognised as dates.
Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

Ket
London

No direct formula but you can try his after a couple of steps
create in a separate area a table with 1st column January,feb...thru
december and against each ones type 1, 2 ..thru 12
use this formula in col C assuming col A has "January" and col B has "11th"
=DATE(2004,VLOOKUP(A1,$I$1:$J$12,2,0),LEFT(B1,SUMP RODUCT(--ISNUMBER(-LEFT(B1
,ROW(INDIRECT("1:2")))))))
Since year was not given I assumed 2004 and assumed cell I1 thru J12
contains the table I told you to create in 1st step


"Ket" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I am using Windows XP with Office XP. I have two columns. Column A
contains months of the year in the format January, March December etc.
Column B contains dates in the format 11th, 16th, 20th etc.
Is it possible to combine these two cells to produce a date? Can a
sort then be undertaken on this new date column so that all
information is sorted chronologically?
I tried using concatenate to combine the cells but couldn't get them
to be recognised as dates.
Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

Ket
London

Hi

For row 2
=DATE(2004,MATCH(A2,{"January","February","March", "April","May","June","July
","August","September","October","November","Decem ber"},0),SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTI
TUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B2,"st",""),"nd",""),"r d",""),"th",""))


Arvi Laanemets


"Ket" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I am using Windows XP with Office XP. I have two columns. Column A
contains months of the year in the format January, March December etc.
Column B contains dates in the format 11th, 16th, 20th etc.
Is it possible to combine these two cells to produce a date? Can a
sort then be undertaken on this new date column so that all
information is sorted chronologically?
I tried using concatenate to combine the cells but couldn't get them
to be recognised as dates.
Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

Ket
London

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 17:03:02 +0000, Ket wrote:

Hello,

I am using Windows XP with Office XP. I have two columns. Column A
contains months of the year in the format January, March December etc.
Column B contains dates in the format 11th, 16th, 20th etc.
Is it possible to combine these two cells to produce a date? Can a
sort then be undertaken on this new date column so that all
information is sorted chronologically?
I tried using concatenate to combine the cells but couldn't get them
to be recognised as dates.
Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

Ket
London


=--(A1&" "&LEFT(B1,LEN(B1)-2))

or

=--(LEFT(B1,LEN(B1)-2)&" "&A1)

Of course, since the year is unspecified, it will always default to the current
year.




--ron

Arvi,

Thanks, this worked very well. Can make use of your knowledge one more
time?
What happens if August, Setember,October, November,and December are
2004 and january, February are 2005. How should this formula be
adjusted?

Thanks again.

On Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:45:10 +0200, "Arvi Laanemets"
wrote:

Hi

For row 2
=DATE(2004,MATCH(A2,{"January","February","March" ,"April","May","June","July
","August","September","October","November","Dece mber"},0),SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTI
TUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B2,"st",""),"nd","")," rd",""),"th",""))


Arvi Laanemets


"Ket" wrote in message
.. .
Hello,

I am using Windows XP with Office XP. I have two columns. Column A
contains months of the year in the format January, March December etc.
Column B contains dates in the format 11th, 16th, 20th etc.
Is it possible to combine these two cells to produce a date? Can a
sort then be undertaken on this new date column so that all
information is sorted chronologically?
I tried using concatenate to combine the cells but couldn't get them
to be recognised as dates.
Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

Ket
London

Hi

For interval from August 2004 to July 2005 (or to February 2005, it's the
same) the formula is:
=DATE(2004+(MATCH(A2,{"January","February","March" ,"April","May","June","Jul
y","August","September","October","November","Dece mber"},0)<8),MATCH(A2,{"Ja
nuary","February","March","April","May","June","Ju ly","August","September","
October","November","December"},0),SUBSTITUTE(SUBS TITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITU
TE(B2,"st",""),"nd",""),"rd",""),"th",""))

Arvi Laanemets


"Ket" wrote in message
...
Arvi,

Thanks, this worked very well. Can make use of your knowledge one more
time?
What happens if August, Setember,October, November,and December are
2004 and january, February are 2005. How should this formula be
adjusted?

Thanks again.

On Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:45:10 +0200, "Arvi Laanemets"
wrote:

Hi

For row 2

=DATE(2004,MATCH(A2,{"January","February","March" ,"April","May","June","Jul
y

","August","September","October","November","Dece mber"},0),SUBSTITUTE(SUBST
I
TUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B2,"st",""),"nd","")," rd",""),"th",""))


Arvi Laanemets


"Ket" wrote in message
.. .
Hello,

I am using Windows XP with Office XP. I have two columns. Column A
contains months of the year in the format January, March December etc.
Column B contains dates in the format 11th, 16th, 20th etc.
Is it possible to combine these two cells to produce a date? Can a
sort then be undertaken on this new date column so that all
information is sorted chronologically?
I tried using concatenate to combine the cells but couldn't get them
to be recognised as dates.
Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

Ket
London