You use Variant variables to hold and manipulate date/time values, which you can produce by calling one or another of the following functions:

Function/Statement	Purpose
CDat Function	Converts a numeric or string expression to a date/time Variant value
Date Function	Returns the system date
Date Statement	Sets the system date
DateNumber Function	Converts year, month, and day, to a date value
DateValue Function	Converts a string to a date value
Day Function	Returns the day of the month (1-31) from a date/time expression
FileDateTime Function	Returns the date and time a file was most recently saved
Format Function	Formats a number, a date/time value, or a string
Hour Function	Returns the hour of the day (0-24) of a date/time expression
IsDate Function	Returns True (-1) if a Variant date/time value, otherwise False (0)
Minute Function	Returns the minute of the hour (0-59) from a date/time expression
Month Function	Returns the month of the year (1-12) from a date/time expression
Now Function	Returns the current system date and time
Second Function	Returns the current second of the minute (0-59) from a date/time expression
Time Function	Returns the system time. The date part of the value is set to 0 or December 30, 1899.
Time Statement	Sets the system date
TimeNumber Function	Converts hours, minutes, and seconds to a fractional date/time value
Timer Function	Returns the time elapsed since midnight in seconds
TimeValue Function	Converts a string to a fractional date/time value
Today Function	Returns the system date (equivalent to the Date function)
WeekDay Function	Returns the day of the week (1-7) from a date/time expression
Year Function	Returns the year as a four-digit integer from a date/time expression

Note Variant variables containing date/time values may be added to produce another Variant variable containing a date/time value. However subtracting one Variant variable containing a date/time value from another will produce a Variant of type Double. You must use the Cdat function to convert the variable back to a date/time value.

You can use the DataType or TypeName functions to determine if a Variant variable holds a date or date/time value. If it does, DataType returns a value of 7, and TypeName returns DATE.

The following examples illustrate the various ways you can derive date and date/time values, how you can assign them to Variant variables, and some of the operations you can then perform on them, such as calculating a time span or determining the day of the week on which a given date will fall.

Suppose that today is October 26, 1994, the time is 7:49:23 AM, and you declare the following variables:

Dim theInstantV As Variant
Dim theDateV As Variant
Dim theDateValV As Variant
Dim myDate As String

This example gets the current date and time by calling the function Now and then assigns the result to a Variant variable, the InstantV:

theInstantV = Now
Print theInstantV
' Output: 10/26/94 7:49:23 AM

Print Day(theInstantV) & " " & Hour(theInstantV)
' Output: 26 7

theDateV = Date
Print theDateV
' Output: 10/26/94
Print theDateV - 1
' Output: 10/25/94

Print CDbl(theDateV)
' Output: 34633
' Convert a value of type Double
' to a date value, assign it to a
' Variant variable, and print it.
theDateV = CDat(34633)
Print theDateV
' Output: 10/26/94

y% = Year(theDateV)
m% = Month(theDateV) + 1
d% = Day(theDateV) + 1
theDateV = DateNumber(y%, m%, d%)
Print theDateV
' Output: 11/27/94

myDate$ = "October 28, 1994"
Print DateValue(myDate$) - 1
' Output: 10/27/94
theDateV = DateValue(myDate$)
' Check the data type of the value
' held by the Variant variable theDateV.
Print TypeName(theDateV)
' Output: DATE

Print Format(DateValue("10-18-14"), "mmm-d-yyyy")
' Output: Oct-18-1914

Note Various products have different interpretations of two-digit years. Notes, for instance, would write the same value as Oct-18-2014.

Print CDbl(Date)
' Output: 34633

Print CDbl(DateValue("10-18-14"))
' Output: 5405
Print CDbl(Date) - CDbl(DateValue("10-18-14"))
' Output: 29228

theDateV = DateValue(Date)
' theDateV = 10/26/94
y% = Year(theDateV)
m% = Month(theDateV) + 1
d% = Day(theDateV) + 1
theDateValV = DateNumber(y%, m%, d%)
' theDateValV = 11/27/94
Print CDbl(theDateValV) - CDbl(theDateV)
' Output: 32

This example determines which day of the week a particular day falls on \ Sunday is 1.

Print Weekday(theDateValV)
' Output: 1

Print CDat(0) 'Prints "12:00:00 AM"

Print CDat(.0) 'Prints "12:00:00 AM"

Print CDat(0.0) 'Prints "12:00:00 AM"

Print CDat(0.1) 'Prints "2:24:00 AM"

Print CDat(1.0) 'Prints "12/31/1899"

Print CDat(2.0) 'Prints "1/1/1900"

Print CDat(123456.0) 'Prints "1/3/2238"

Variants
Variant data type
Date function
Date statement
DateNumber function
DateValue function
Day function

Glossary