WEEKNUM function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation

• System 1    The week containing January 1 is the first week of the year, and is numbered week 1.
• System 2    The week containing the first Thursday of the year is the first week of the year, and is numbered as week 1. This system is the methodology specified in ISO 8601, which is commonly known as the European week numbering system.

Syntax of WEEKNUM function

WEEKNUM(serial_number,[return_type])

The WEEKNUM function syntax has the following arguments:

• Serial_number: A date within the week. Dates should be entered by using the DATE function, or as results of other formulas or functions. For example, use DATE(2008,5,23) for the 23rd day of May, 2008. Problems can occur if dates are entered as text.
• Return_type(Optional): A number that determines on which day the week begins. The default is 1.

WEEKNUM formula explanation

• Excel stores dates as sequential serial numbers so they can be used in calculations. By default, January 1, 1900 is serial number 1. January 1, 2008 is serial number 39448 because it is 39,448 days after January 1, 1900.
• If Serial_number is out of range for the current date base value, a #NUM! error is returned.
• If Return_type is out of the range specified in the table above, a #NUM! error is returned.

Example of WEEKNUM function

• Sum by week number in Excel
• Pad week numbers with zeros in Excel
• Get week number from date in Excel

Steps to follow:

1. Open a new Excel worksheet.

2. Copy data in the following table below and paste it in cell A1

Note: For formulas to show results, select them, press F2 key on your keyboard and then press Enter.

You can adjust the column widths to see all the data, if need be.