The Excel NETWORKDAYS Function

Related Functions:

Function Description

The Excel Networkdays function calculates the number of work days between two supplied dates (including the start and end date). The calculation includes all weekdays (Mon - Fri), excluding a supplied list of holidays.

The syntax of the function is:

NETWORKDAYS( start_date, end_date, [holidays] )

where the arguments are as follows:

start_date	-	The start date, from which to count the number of workdays. (The start_date is counted in the returned number of days).
end_date	-	The end date, to count the number of workdays up to. (The end_date is counted in the returned number of days).
[holidays]	-	An optional argument, which specifies an array of dates (in addition to weekends) that are not to be counted as working days.

Note that Microsoft recommends that the start_date, end_date and [holidays] arguments should be input as either:

References to cells containing dates

Dates returned from formulas.

If you attempt to input Excel date arguments as text, Excel may misinterpret them, depending on the date system, or date interpretation settings on your computer.

Networkdays Function Examples

The spreadsheet below provides two examples of the Excel Networkdays function, used to calculate the number of work days between the two dates Dec 01, 2015 and Jan 15, 2016.

One of the examples (in cell A8) ignores holidays (other than weekends), while the second example (in cell A9) provides a list of holidays to be excluded from the day count in the calculation.

Formulas:

	A	B	C
1	Start Date:	12/01/2015
2	End Date:	01/15/2016
3	Holidays:	12/25/2015
4		12/28/2015
5		01/01/2016
6
7	Work days between Dec 1st, 2015 & Jan 15th, 2016:
8	=NETWORKDAYS( B1, B2 )		- No Holidays
9	=NETWORKDAYS( B1, B2, B3:B5 )		- Excludes holidays in cells B3-B5

Results:

	A	C
7	Work days between Dec 1st, 2015 & Jan 15th, 2016:
8	34	- No Holidays
9	31	- Excludes holidays in cells B3-B5

In the above spreadsheet:

The [holidays] array has been omitted from the calculation in cell A8. Therefore this result excludes Saturdays and Sundays but includes all other weekdays, including the holidays at Christmas and New Year.
In the example in cell A9, the [holidays] array (in cells B3 - B5) is provided to the Networkdays function. Therefore the calculation excludes Saturdays and Sundays and the listed Christmas and New Year holidays.

See the Microsoft Office website for further examples of the Excel Networkdays function.

Networkdays Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Networkdays function this is likely to be the #VALUE! error:

Common Errors

#VALUE!

Occurs if any of the supplied arguments are not valid dates.

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