I need to combine information to make a naming convention with a time stamp

[markicir]

Hello all long time-lurker here,
I need to make a naming convention that takes information from three different cells and inputs it into one naming convention , all values in () for my example will be the information I have in other cells.
"Request_(date/time stamp "e2")_(acct#"a2")_(date of birth"d2")_media_cpra"

I'm a little unclear whether or not the underscores are fatal to the output or not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[daffodil11]

You will need to use & as concatenation instead of underscores, and more " where text ends and referenced values begin.

"Request " & e2 &" "& a2 &" "& d2 &" media_cpra"

Assuming e2 = 9/25/2013 13:16, a2 = 11011, and d2= 10/31/1966

Request 9/25/2013 13:16 11011 10/31/1966 media_cpra

[markicir]

You will need to use & as concatenation instead of underscores, and more " where text ends and referenced values begin.

"Request " & e2 &" "& a2 &" "& d2 &" media_cpra"

Assuming e2 = 9/25/2013 13:16, a2 = 11011, and d2= 10/31/1966

Request 9/25/2013 13:16 11011 10/31/1966 media_cpra

When I tried to concatenate the cells before, Excel wants to add them rather than list them side by side (I should have noted that the date stamp is formatted YYYYMMDDHHMMSS)

***Sorry, i confused myself and pulled up a separate spreadsheet. The error is that the the output is taking the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS and changing it to something I don't recognize. It took 20130925102716 and made it 41542.4355990741

[daffodil11]

41542.4355990741 is just 9/25/2013 10:27:16 in Excel language

Just change the format of that weird number back to date.

41542.4355990741 = 20130925102716

Excel stores dates as the count of days since 1/1/1900 and time as a fraction of 1 day.

Therefore, 2013/09/25 = 41542 days since 1/1/1900

and

10 hours 27 minutes 16 seconds = 37636 seconds ÷ 86400 seconds in a day = .4355990741

[markicir]

Got it. Your explanation makes a lot of sense, Excel's thinking doesn't. Thanks so much for your help!

[daffodil11]

No problem.