Excel vba now time

Excel VBA Now Function

NOW is a DATE and TIME function in both VBA used to get the current system date and time. Like the worksheet function, which does not take any arguments, in VBA, the NOW function does not take any arguments. The return output for this function is the date.

The VBA NOW function is similar to the one in the Excel worksheet function. Like the DATE function in VBAVBA Date is a date and time function. It returns only the current date as per the system date you are using and has no arguments whatsoever. This function returns the current system date.read more, the NOW function does not have parameters to pass in. We need to pass the function with closed parenthesis or not need for parenthesis. Using the DATE function in VBA, we can generate the current date showing the system we are working on. However, we have seen situations where we need the current time and date. In Excel, we can do various things. Similarly, we can generate the current date and time with a simple function called NOW in excelIn an excel worksheet, the NOW function is used to display the current system date and time. The syntax for using this function is quite simple =NOW ().read more.

The formula of the VBA NOW is simple.

NOW ()

Example of NOW Function in VBA Excel

Look at the simple example of the NOW function in VBA. Then, follow the below steps to write the VBA codeVBA code refers to a set of instructions written by the user in the Visual Basic Applications programming language on a Visual Basic Editor (VBE) to perform a specific task.read more Have a fair bit of knowledge on NOW and writing the code.

Step 1: Start the sub procedure by giving a macro name.

Code:

Sub Now_Example1()

End Sub

Step 2: Declare the variable as “Date.” We need to declare the variable as “Date” because our result is in the date and time format.

Code:

Sub Now_Example1()

Dim k As Date

End Sub

Step 3: Assign the value to the variable “k” by applying VBA NOW function.

Code:

Sub Now_Example1()

Dim k As Date

k = Now

End Sub

Step 4: Now, show the value of the NOW function assigned to the variable “k” in the message box in VBAVBA MsgBox function is an output function which displays the generalized message provided by the developer. This statement has no arguments and the personalized messages in this function are written under the double quotes while for the values the variable reference is provided.read more.

Code:

Sub Now_Example1()

Dim k As Date

k = Now

MsgBox k

End Sub

We have completed it now.

Run the code using the F5 key or manually and see the result.

The result shows 4/15/2019 at 5:03:35.

My computer date format is “mm-dd-yyyy.”

We can also change the date format by using the FORMAT function. Below is the code to change the date format.

Code:

Sub Now_Example1()

Dim k As Date

k = Now

MsgBox Format(k, "DD-MMM-YYYY HH:MM:SS")

End Sub

Run the code and see the difference.

Now, we have an accurate date and time format. With this format, anybody can understand the date and time format.

Volatile in Nature:

As you can see in the first example, we got the time result as 5:03:35. In the second example, we got the result as 17:19:02. So this shows that the NOW function is a volatile function that changes every second.

Alternative to Timer Function in VBA

As an alternative to VBA TIMERVBA timer is an inbuilt function to give us the fractional value of seconds. Sometimes, it is used to pause any set of codes running or resume them based on the time provided. A timer is used as a statement in VBA with the input of time.read more, we can use the “VBA NOW” function to calculate the total time taken by the macro to complete the task.

Use the below code to calculate the time taken by your code.

C0de:

Sub TotalDuration()

Dim k As Date

k = Now

'

'

'Enter your code here
'

'

'
    MsgBox "Total Time Taken by the  macro to complete the task is : " & _
Format((Now - k), "HH:MM:SS")
End Sub

In the green-colored area, copy and paste your code.

Execute the code by pressing the F5 key or the run button. As soon as it completes the execution, we will get the time taken by the macro to complete the task message in the message box. Below is an example of the same.

Like this, we can use the NOW function in many ways in VBA.

You can download this Excel VBA Now Function template here – VBA Now Function Template

Recommended Articles

This article has been a guide to VBA Now. Here, we learn how to use the Now function in Excel VBA, its alternative to the time function, and simple to advanced examples. Below are some useful Excel articles related to VBA: –

• VBA Change Font Color
• Sleep in VBA
• For Each Loop in VBA
• Data Type in VBA

This tutorial will demonstrate how to get today’s date in VBA.

There are a couple of ways to obtain today’s date in VBA code, namely using the VBA Date() function or the VBA Now() functions.

Date() function

The Date() Function returns today’s date. In the example below, we assign today’s date to a variable and then display the date in the immediate window in the VBE Editor.

  Dim dtToday as Date
  dtToday = Date()
  Debug.Print dtToday

Alternatively, we can display the date in a message box.

Sub TestDate
  Dim dtToday as Date
  dtToday = Date()
  Msgbox "Today's date is " & dtToday
End Sub

Now() Function

The Now() Function works in the same way as the date function, but it includes the time.

Sub TestDate()
  Dim dtToday As Date
  dtToday = Now()
  MsgBox "Today's date is " & dtToday
  End Sub

Formatting Dates with VBA

In both the Date() and the Now() functions, the date is formatted in a default style as determined  by the settings on our PC.  We can customize this formatting using the VBA Format function.  As the format function will return a string, we need to declare a STRING variable rather than a DATE variable.

Sub TestDate()
   Dim dtToday As String
   dtToday = Format (Date, "dd mmmm yyyy")
   MsgBox "Today's date is " & dtToday
End Sub

We can also format the Now() function to include the time portion in a customized format.

Sub FormatNow()
  Dim dtToday As String
  dtToday = Format(Now(), "dd mmmm yy hh:mm:ss am/pm")
  MsgBox dtToday
End Sub

Comparing 2 Dates with VBA

We can also use the Date function to compare today’s date with a different date – we might want to calculate how many days there are until an event!  We can do this using the VBA DateDiff()  function which will return a number.  We can therefore declare an INTEGER variable to store the returned value in.

Sub TestDateDiff()
 Dim dtToday As Date
 Dim dtSomeDay As Date
 Dim iDays As Integer
 dtToday = Date
 dtSomeDay = "05/06/2021"
 iDays = DateDiff("d", dtToday, dtSomeDay)
 MsgBox "There are " & iDays & " days between the 2 dates"
End Sub

As Dates are stored as numbers, we could also minus the second date from the first to obtain the same answer.

iDays = dtToday - dtSomeDay