This would also work: a1_as_date = datetime.date(*xlrd.xldate_as_tuple(a1, 0)[:3]) You can pass the items of the tuple as positional arguments by prefacing the tuple with an asterisk (wtg python!) Posted by clayg at 3:20 AM 7 comments: Lutz said... Thanks, clayg. Works like a charm. :-) January 28, 2009 6:57 AM John