What would be the quickest way to Format "Mar 24 2005" => "03/24/2005"

to be quicker ;-)

Format("Mar 24 2005", "mm/dd/yyyy")

MsgBox CDate("Mar 24 2005")

S

define quick:

time it takes to type
time it takes the CPU to do

?

Option Explicit

Private Sub Form_Load()
  Dim start As Double
  Dim iter As Long
  Dim s As String
 
  start = DateTime.Timer
  For iter = 1 To 100000
    s = CDate("24 Mar 2004")
  Next iter
  Debug.Print "CDATE method took " & DateTime.Timer - start & " sec"
 
  start = DateTime.Timer
  For iter = 1 To 100000
    s = Format("24 Mar 2004", "mm/dd/yyyy")
  Next iter
  Debug.Print "FORMAT method took " & DateTime.Timer - start & " sec"
 
  start = DateTime.Timer
  For iter = 1 To 100000
    s = Format(CDate("Mar 24 2005"), "mm/dd/yyyy")
  Next iter
  Debug.Print "FORMATCDATE method took " & DateTime.Timer - start & " sec"
 
  start = DateTime.Timer
  For iter = 1 To 100000
    s = Format("24 Mar 2004", "mm/dd/yyyy")
  Next iter
  Debug.Print "FORMAT$ method took " & DateTime.Timer - start & " sec"
 
End Sub



my laptop's results are:
CDATE method took 0.657281250001688 sec
FORMAT method took 0.797156250002445 sec
FORMATCDATE method took 0.703281249996508 sec
FORMAT$ method took 0.797156250002445 sec


about 3 seconds to convert 400,000 dates... i think youll have other issues in your data prep than this

ps, i made an error, not putting Format$ on the last bit of code, only the string printout.. but it makes no difference, infact my Format$ took longer

Agreed that any of the above works well enough with the exception of:
s = CDate("24 Mar 2004")

Without using the Format function, the returned format will be the system default short date format.  This may not be in the form "mm/dd/yyyy"

<<< This may not be in the form "mm/dd/yyyy">>>
That is true of course, if the locale is not in the format of "mm/dd/yyyy". However, if the locale IS in that format, then this would be the fastest way.

S

assuming the locale having a format of mm/dd/yyyy would, i believe, be a big assumption. why would you want to convert dates from one format to another then?