Crispo - Excel Challenge 09 2025

excel-challenges
weekly-exercises
Easy Sunday Excel Challenge
Published

March 2, 2025

Illustration for Crispo - Excel Challenge 09 2025

Challenge Description

Easy Sunday Excel Challenge

⭐ ⭐Extract the Date, Day of the Week and Time

Solutions

library(tidyverse)
library(readxl)
library(lubridate)
library(hms)

path = "files/Ex-Challenge 09 2025.xlsx"
input = read_excel(path, range = "B3:B7")
test  = read_excel(path, range = "D3:F7") %>%
  mutate(Time = as_hms(Time) %>% as.POSIXct())

result = input %>%
  mutate(Dates = gsub("\\.", "", Dates)) %>%
  mutate(Dates = parse_date_time(Dates, "b. d, Y, I:M p")) %>%
  mutate(Date = as.Date(Dates) %>% as.POSIXct(),
         Day = wday(Dates, label = TRUE, abbr = FALSE, locale = "en") %>% as.character(),
         Time = as_hms(Dates) %>% as.POSIXct()) %>%
  select(-Dates)

all.equal(result, test, check.attributes = FALSE)
# [1] TRUE

  • Logic:

    • Reads the workbook range needed for the challenge

    • Builds the intermediate helper columns that drive the final answer

  • Strengths:

    • The R solution stays compact and mirrors the workbook logic closely.

  • Areas for Improvement:

    • The code assumes the workbook layout and named ranges remain stable.

  • Gem:

    • The best part of the solution is choosing a tidy intermediate shape before producing the final answer.
import pandas as pd

path = "files/Ex-Challenge 09 2025.xlsx"
input = pd.read_excel(path, usecols="B", skiprows=2, nrows=5)
test = pd.read_excel(path, usecols="D:F", skiprows=2, nrows=5)

input['Dates'] = input['Dates'].apply(lambda x: x.split()[0][:3] + ' ' + ' '.join(x.split()[1:]))
input['Dates'] = input['Dates'].str.replace('.', '', regex=False)
input['Dates'] = input['Dates'].str.replace('am', 'AM').str.replace('pm', 'PM')

input['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(input['Dates']).dt.date.astype('datetime64[ns]')
input['Day'] = pd.to_datetime(input['Dates']).dt.day_name()
input['Time'] = pd.to_datetime(input['Dates']).dt.time

input = input.drop(columns=['Dates'])

print(input.equals(test)) # True

  • Logic:

    • Reads the workbook range needed for the challenge

  • Strengths:

    • The Python version keeps the same rule in a direct pandas-oriented workflow.

  • Areas for Improvement:

    • As with the R version, any workbook layout change would require small adjustments.

  • Gem:

    • The implementation stays close to the stated challenge instead of adding unnecessary complexity.

Difficulty Level

This task is easy to moderate:

  • The business rule is readable, but the workbook still needs a few careful transformation steps.