Using Application.Match to Locate Date Values on a Worksheet (141507)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

This article was previously published under Q141507

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you may run into problems if you use the Match method in a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro or procedure to locate date values on a worksheet. When you use a macro to search for dates, you need to search for the actual serial value of the date.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. In Microsoft Excel, each date is represented by a serialized number. If you are using the 1900 date system in Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 7.0, the serial numbers range from 1 to 65,380, corresponding to the dates January 1, 1900, through December 31, 2078. In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98, the range has been increased from 1 to 2958465, corresponding to the dates January 1, 1900, through December 31, 9999. If you are using the 1904 date system in versions 5.0 and 7.0, the serial numbers range from 0 to 63,918, corresponding to the dates January 1, 1904, through December 31, 1 In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98, the range is from 1 to 2957003, corresponding to January 1, 1904, through December 31, 9999.

To use a macro to match a date, use the serial value for the date as the lookup value when you use the Match function. You can acquire the serial value for a date by using the CLng function to convert the date to a long integer.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub MatchDate()

       Dim TheDate As Date
       Dim Index As Variant

       TheDate = #1/3/95#

       ' Find a match for the serial value of the date in the range A1:A10
       ' on Sheet1.
       Index = Application.Match(CLng(TheDate), Range("Sheet1!A1:A10"), 0)

       ' Display the results.
       If IsError(Index) Then
           MsgBox "Not Found"
       Else
           MsgBox "Match item: " & Index
       End If

   End Sub
				

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2006
Keywords:kbdtacode kbhowto kbProgramming KB141507