error xlsread import dates

Hi all,

I have a problem when I import dates from an xls file. It contains a column of dates, one of price, dates, price and so on. If I open the file from the Matlab folder, dates are "dd/MM/yyyy".

[price, dates]=xlsread(filename);

With this command I found a problem in the matrix dates in fact it gives me for example "monday-03-08-2010" instead of the "canonical" format "dd/mm/yyyy" and I don't know why. I've already tried with xlsread(filename, 'mm/dd/yyyy') but without solution. Can someone help me?

Thanks a lot

P.s. Matlab version 2019

Answer 1

[Rajani Mishra]

• “xlsread()” function does not provide option to pass date format - "dd/mm/yyyy" as a name- value pair argument. Refer its documentation: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/xlsread.html#btg5vmt-3
• Instead you can pass output of “xlsread()” function to function “datestr()” to convert to the required format. You can find “datestr()” documentation below: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/datestr.html#btenptl-3

• Also, I came across a similar question: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/440892-reading-the-exact-time-and-date-as-in-excel-sheet

• “xlsread()” function is not recommended anymore. You can use “readmatrix()” function instead. You can find its documentation here: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/readmatrix.html.