Excel WEEKDAY Function: Day of the Week as a Number

The Excel WEEKDAY function returns the day of the week for a date as a number. By default Sunday is 1 and Saturday is 7, but you can choose where the week starts.

fx=WEEKDAY(serial_number, [return_type])

PurposeGet the day of the week as a number

ReturnsA number, usually 1 to 7

Available inAll Excel versions, Excel for the web, Google Sheets

`serial_number`	The date to check.
`return_type` optional	How to number the days. 1 (default): Sunday = 1. 2: Monday = 1. 3: Monday = 0.

Table of Contents

Basic example

Give WEEKDAY a date. Column D shows the day name for comparison:

=WEEKDAY(B3)

Excel WEEKDAY returning day numbers, with Sunday as 1

Saturday 03-Oct-2026 returns 7 and Sunday returns 1. That’s the default, return type 1.

Choose where the week starts

The same dates with three return types side by side:

=WEEKDAY(B3,2)

Excel WEEKDAY return types 1, 2 and 3 compared

With type 2, Monday is 1 and Sunday is 7, so a weekend test is simply WEEKDAY(B3,2)>5. Saturday returns 6. Type 3 numbers Monday as 0, which is handy for date arithmetic.

Find the Monday of the week

With type 3, WEEKDAY returns how many days have passed since Monday. Subtract that from the date:

=B3-WEEKDAY(B3,3)

Excel WEEKDAY finding the Monday that starts each week

Saturday 03-Oct-2026 is 5 days after Monday, so the week started on 28-Sep-2026. Dates from Monday 05-Oct onwards belong to the next week. Use this to group daily data into weeks.

Return types

return_type	Numbers the days
1 or omitted	Sunday 1 to Saturday 7
2	Monday 1 to Sunday 7
3	Monday 0 to Sunday 6
11 to 17	Monday 1 to Sunday 1 (week starts on the day you pick)

For the day name rather than a number, use TEXT(B3,"dddd"). For the day of the month, use DAY.

Notes

The default numbering starts on Sunday. Most business calculations are easier with return type 2.
WEEKDAY needs a real date. Text dates return #VALUE!.
To count working days between dates, use NETWORKDAYS.
For codes-to-labels with WEEKDAY, see the SWITCH page.

Common errors

Problem	Cause	Fix
Weekend test wrong	Default type 1 used, where Saturday is 7 and Sunday is 1	Use `WEEKDAY(B3,2)>5`
`#VALUE!`	The date is text	Convert it to a real date
`#NUM!`	An invalid return_type, such as 4	Use 1, 2, 3 or 11–17

Practice file

All three examples plus return types in a cheat sheet.

Download .xlsx