The safest way is to split the string in parts and put it together using the DateSerial
and TimeSerial
method.
Option Explicit
Public Sub example()
Range("A1").Value = ConvertISO8601StringToDate("2020-10-06T16:19:00")
Range("A1").NumberFormat = "m/d/yyyy h:mm"
End Sub
Public Function ConvertISO8601StringToDate(ByVal InputString As String) As Date
Dim DatePart As Date
DatePart = DateSerial(Left$(InputString, 4), Mid$(InputString, 6, 2), Mid$(InputString, 9, 2))
Dim TimePart As Date
TimePart = TimeSerial(Mid$(InputString, 12, 2), Mid$(InputString, 15, 2), Mid$(InputString, 18, 2))
ConvertISO8601StringToDate = DatePart + TimePart
End Function
To convert an entire range use arrays for fast processing:
Public Sub ConvertRange()
Dim RangeToConvert As Range ' define range
Set RangeToConvert = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:A13")
Dim DataArray() As Variant ' convert range into array for fast processing
DataArray = RangeToConvert.Value
' loop throug array data
Dim iRow As Long
For iRow = LBound(DataArray, 1) To UBound(DataArray, 1)
Dim iCol As Long
For iCol = LBound(DataArray, 2) To UBound(DataArray, 2)
' convert iso8601 conform strings and leave the rest unchanged
Dim DateVal As Date
On Error Resume Next
DateVal = ConvertISO8601StringToDate(DataArray(iRow, iCol))
If Err.Number = 0 Then ' only convert iso8601 strings
DataArray(iRow, iCol) = DateVal
End If
On Error GoTo 0
Next iCol
Next iRow
' write array data back to sheet
RangeToConvert.Value = DataArray
End Sub
More powerful function with RegEx that can convert all the ISO8601 defined formats:

The output of the timezoned times is converted UTC+00:00. So if that needs to be in any other zone it needs to be converted after that. For example into the comuters timezone.
For dates that have no day specified like YYYY
, YYYY-MM
or YYYY-Www
always the first day of that period is asumed. So for example 2004-W28
gives the beginning of that week as date 2004-07-05
to get the end of that week you just need to add +6
to the beginning. Also 2004-07
will assume the beginning of the month 2004-07-01
. And the year 2004
will be converted to the date 2004-01-01
.
Public Function ConvDateTime(ByVal InVal As String) As Date
Dim SplitDateTime() As String
SplitDateTime = Split(InVal, "T")
ConvDateTime = ConvDate(SplitDateTime(0)) + ConvTime(SplitDateTime(1))
End Function
Public Function ConvDate(ByVal InVal As String) As Date
Dim RetVal As Variant
Dim RegEx As Object
Set RegEx = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
With RegEx
.Global = True
.MultiLine = True
.IgnoreCase = False
End With
RegEx.Pattern = "^(\d{4})-?(\d{2})?-?(\d{2})?$|^(\d{4})-?W(\d{2})?-?(\d)?$|^(\d{4})-?(\d{3})$"
Dim Match As Object
Set Match = RegEx.Execute(InVal)
If Match.Count <> 1 Then Exit Function
With Match(0)
If Not IsEmpty(.SubMatches(0)) Then
'YYYY-MM-DD
If IsEmpty(.SubMatches(1)) Then 'YYYY
RetVal = DateSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(0)), 1, 1)
ElseIf IsEmpty(.SubMatches(2)) Then 'YYYY-MM
RetVal = DateSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(0)), CInt(.SubMatches(1)), 1)
Else 'YYYY-MM-DD
RetVal = DateSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(0)), CInt(.SubMatches(1)), CInt(.SubMatches(2)))
End If
ElseIf Not IsEmpty(.SubMatches(3)) Then
'YYYY-Www-D
RetVal = DateSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(3)), 1, 4) '4th of jan is always week 1
RetVal = RetVal - Weekday(RetVal, 2) 'subtract the weekday number of 4th of jan
RetVal = RetVal + 7 * (CInt(.SubMatches(4)) - 1) 'add 7 times the (weeknumber - 1)
If IsEmpty(.SubMatches(5)) Then 'YYYY-Www
RetVal = RetVal + 1 'choose monday of that week
Else 'YYYY-Www-D
RetVal = RetVal + CInt(.SubMatches(5)) 'choose day of that week 1-7 monday to sunday
End If
Else
'YYYY-DDD
RetVal = DateSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(6)), 1, 1) + CInt(.SubMatches(7)) - 1
End If
End With
ConvDate = RetVal
End Function
Public Function ConvTime(ByVal InVal As String) As Date
Dim RetVal As Variant
Dim RegEx As Object
Set RegEx = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
With RegEx
.Global = True
.MultiLine = False
.IgnoreCase = False
End With
RegEx.Pattern = "^(\d{2}):?(\d{2})?:?(\d{2})?(\+|\-|Z)?(\d{2})?:?(\d{2})?$|^(\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2}\.?\,?\d{4})?(\+|\-|Z)?(\d{2})?:?(\d{2})?$"
Dim Match As Object
Set Match = RegEx.Execute(InVal)
If Match.Count <> 1 Then Exit Function
With Match(0)
If Not IsEmpty(.SubMatches(0)) Then
'hh:mm:ss
If IsEmpty(.SubMatches(1)) Then 'hh
RetVal = TimeSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(0)), 0, 0)
ElseIf IsEmpty(.SubMatches(2)) Then 'hh:mm
RetVal = TimeSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(0)), CInt(.SubMatches(1)), 0)
Else 'hh:mm:ss
RetVal = TimeSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(0)), CInt(.SubMatches(1)), CInt(.SubMatches(2)))
End If
If Not IsEmpty(.SubMatches(3)) Then
If Not .SubMatches(3) = "Z" Then
If Not IsEmpty(.SubMatches(4)) Then
RetVal = DateAdd("h", -1& * CDbl(.SubMatches(3) & .SubMatches(4)), RetVal)
End If
If Not IsEmpty(.SubMatches(5)) Then
RetVal = DateAdd("n", -1& * CDbl(.SubMatches(3) & .SubMatches(5)), RetVal)
End If
End If
End If
Else
'hh:mm:ss,f
Dim Milliseconds As String
Milliseconds = .SubMatches(8)
Milliseconds = Replace$(Milliseconds, ",", Application.DecimalSeparator)
Milliseconds = Replace$(Milliseconds, ".", Application.DecimalSeparator)
RetVal = TimeSerial(CInt(.SubMatches(6)), CInt(.SubMatches(7)), 0)
RetVal = RetVal + (CDbl(Milliseconds) / 60 / 60 / 24) ' TimeSerial does not support milliseconds
End If
End With
ConvTime = RetVal
End Function