extracting text from cell with date

[unitedmre]

not as easy a it seems
ok so I have a cell with =today(), which yields 30.05.2011.

now it should be an easy task to extract text from within that cell, eg with the LEFT function:

day cell = 30
month cell = 05
year cell = 2011

however, extracting day value gives : 40 ! when i format the cell with =today() as general, its surprisingly "40693", i.e. some excelcode for a specific day.

is there a workaround for this, or do i need a table matching such 5digit codes to actual dates, if so, where could i get it?


thanks!

 

[VoG]

Try like this

Excel Workbook
	A	B	C	D
1	30/05/2011	30	5	2011
Sheet1