A to Z of Excel Functions: The DATESTRING Function
12 February 2024
Welcome back to our regular A to Z of Excel Functions blog. Today we look at the DATESTRING function.
The DATESTRING function
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/./image1-1707213975.png/4c4f3cfc2922e137e8ebfa48b0c4f7f4.jpg)
DATESTRING appears to have been a function created for backward compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3. It is thought it returned the system date in the MM-dd-yyyy format, which uses the abbreviated month name. The accepted formats for the date were supposedly M-d-yyyy, M-d-y, M/d/yyyy, and M/d/y. This was supposedly true for all system locales except those that use a double-byte character set (DBCS). If the system locale uses a double-byte character set, DATESTRING would have returned the system date in the yyyy-MM-dd format. The system locale is set by using the Clock, Language and Region item in Control Panel.
It appears to be no longer operational but is still recognised in Excel, viz.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/./image2-1707214009.png/ad37425c2c7e0494cd727289cc73c245.jpg)
This function is presented for completeness only.
We’ll continue our A to Z of Excel Functions soon. Keep checking back – there’s a new blog post every business day.