How do I go from Excel serial date numbers to use in MATLAB without the Financial Toolbox?

How do I convert my Excel serial date numbers to use in MATLAB?

I do not have the Financial Toolbox so I cannot use the "x2mdate" function.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

Use readtable to import the dates from the spreadsheet as datetimes.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/readtable.html#btx_238-1-DatetimeType

Alternatively, If the Excel dates have already been imported into MATLAB as numbers then converting from Excel serial date numbers to MATLAB datetime format can be done with the "datetime" function by using the 'ConvertFrom' option.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/datetime.html

[Peter Perkins]

This is the right thing to do if the Excel dates have already been imported into MATLAB as numbers. But in many cases, the right thing to do is to use readtable to import the dates from the spreadsheet as datetimes, no conversion necessary.