WEEKDAY

What does this function do?

The WEEKDAY function returns the day of the week corresponding to a date. Depending on the return type you choose, the week can start on Sunday, Monday, or another day.

For example:

• Monday → 2 (if week starts on Sunday)
• Monday → 1 (if week starts on Monday)

Syntax

=WEEKDAY(date, [return_type])

Arguments:

• date — required argument. This can be:
  • reference to a cell containing a date
  • result of another function, for example TODAY()
  • text date (e.g., “2025-06-17”) if Excel can recognize it
• return_type — optional argument that determines which day the week starts on and what values are returned. If omitted, type 1 is used.

Return type options:

Examples

Formatting

The function returns a number from 1 to 7 (or 0 to 6 depending on return type). This numeric value can be used for sorting, filtering, or creating charts. To display the day name as text, use the TEXT function:

=TEXT(A2, "dddd")

For example, the formula above returns “Tuesday” or “Wednesday” depending on the date. It’s important to understand that the TEXT function’s argument should be the original date, not the number representing the weekday.

Practical applications

• Calculate weekend vs weekday for business operations
• Schedule weekly reports or tasks
• Filter data by specific days of the week
• Calculate due dates excluding weekends
• Analyze sales patterns by weekday

Features

• If the date argument is not a valid date, it returns an error
• Type 2 (Monday = 1) is commonly used in business and European practice
• To display the weekday as text, use the TEXT function with format “dddd” for full name or “ddd” for abbreviated name
• The function works with dates from January 1, 1900, to December 31, 9999

Other Date and Time functions in Excel

TIMEVALUE, TIME, YEAR, DATE, DATEVALUE, EDATE, DAY, YEARFRAC, EOMONTH, MONTH, MINUTE, WEEKNUM and WEEKNUM.ISO, WORKDAY, DATEDIF, TODAY, SECOND, NOW, HOUR, NETWORKDAYS

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