DATEVALUE

Converts a date in the form of text to a serial number.

getActiveSheet(); // Add some data $testDates = array( '26 March 2012', '29 Feb 2012', 'April 1, 2012', '25/12/2012', '2012-Oct-31', '5th November', 'January 1st', 'April 2012', '17-03', '03-2012', '29 Feb 2011', '03-05-07', '03-MAY-07', '03-13-07', ); $testDateCount = count($testDates); for($row = 1; $row <= $testDateCount; ++$row) { $worksheet->setCellValue('A'.$row, $testDates[$row-1]); $worksheet->setCellValue('B'.$row, '=DATEVALUE(A'.$row.')'); $worksheet->setCellValue('C'.$row, '=B'.$row); } $worksheet->getStyle('C1:C'.$testDateCount) ->getNumberFormat() ->setFormatCode('yyyy-mmm-dd'); echo '

'; // Test the formulae ?>

Warning: The PHPExcel DATEVALUE() function accepts a wider range of date formats than MS Excel's DATEFORMAT() function.

'; echo ''; echo ''; echo ''; echo ''; echo ''; } ?>

Date String	Formula	Excel DateStamp	Formatted DateStamp
' , $worksheet->getCell('A'.$row)->getFormattedValue() , '	' , $worksheet->getCell('B'.$row)->getValue() , '	' , $worksheet->getCell('B'.$row)->getFormattedValue() , '	' , $worksheet->getCell('C'.$row)->getFormattedValue() , '