yet another possibility...

if you look at 'help(package=xlsReadWrite)' you'll find a function
'dateTimeToStr' by which you can convert your date-numbers from column 3
into a string. Something along (untested):

myRead <- function( fn ) {
  dat <- read.xls( file = fn, dateTimeAs = "numeric" )
  dat[,3] <- dateTimeToStr( dat[,3] )  # or any other conversion function
  dat
}

'dateTimeAs' argument is (probably) needed to retrieve plain numbers and
override the default conversion to date string.

-- 
Regards,
Hans-Peter

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

