Multiple date formats

[crockwaxi]

Just wondering if there is any script that will help me distinguish European date format ddmmyyyy from US date format mmddyyyy? I have an excel document with a date column that contains the two formats(the column itself is formatted as general). Instead of changing excel, is there qlikview script that would allow me to create a new field containing a single format? Thanks.

[hic · Accepted solution]

If you load the Date using

Date(
   Alt(
      Date#(Date,'DDMMYYYY'),
      Date#(Date,'MMDDYYYY')
   )
) as Date

Then the Alt() function will return the first valid interpretation. (You can also have a 3rd and 4th parameter, etc.)

If you just want to test whether an interpretation is valid, you can use

IsNum(Date#(Date,'DDMMYYYY'))