Excel HOUR Function

Using the Excel HOUR Function

Excel HOUR Function

Summary

The HOUR function in Excel can be used to return the hour from a time value. The result will be an integer that represents 12:00 A.M. as 0 and 11:00 P.M. as 23. The HOUR function is useful if you are given a list of times and are required to provide only the hour to another formula or function.

Syntax

=HOUR (serial_number)

Syntax Breakdown

Serial_number
A required field that contains the time where you would like to find the hour. Time can be entered as text strings (be sure to use quotation marks), decimal numbers, or the output from other formulas or functions.

Excel HOURS Examples



Other Notes

Time Values as Decimals
A day value can be broken up into time values and represented as a decimal number. An example would be 0.5 to represent 12:00 P.M. This makes sense since 12:00 P.M. is half of one day.

Given that Excel stores dates and times as serials numbers, you may occasionally want to confirm that dates and times are being recognized correctly. To achieve this, simply format the date as a number.

HOUR Date and Time as Decimals