ReferenceDay

The setting defines which day in January to set as reference day to define week 1. In other words, this setting prescribes how many days in week 1 must be dates within January.

Syntax:

ReferenceDay

ReferenceDay sets how many days are included in the first week of the year. ReferenceDay can be set to any value between 1 and 7. Any value outside of the 1-7 range is interpreted as the midpoint of the week (4), which is equivalent to ReferenceDay being set to 4.

If you do not select a value for the ReferenceDay setting, then the default value will show ReferenceDay=0 which will be interpreted as the midpoint of the week (4), as seen in the ReferenceDay values table below.

The ReferenceDay function is often used in combination with the following functions:

Related functions
Variable	Interaction
BrokenWeeks	If the Qlik Sense app is operating with unbroken weeks, the ReferenceDay variable setting will be enforced. However, if broken weeks are being used, week 1 will begin on January 1 and terminate in conjunction with the FirstWeekDay variable setting and ignore the ReferenceDay flag.
FirstWeekDay	Integer that defines which day to use as the first day of the week.

Qlik Sense allows the following values to be set for ReferenceDay:

ReferenceDay values
Value	Reference day
0 (default)	January 4
1	January 1
2	January 2
3	January 3
4	January 4
5	January 5
6	January 6
7	January 7

In the following example the ReferenceDay = 3 defines January 3 as the reference day:

SET ReferenceDay=3; //(set January 3 as the reference day)

For more information about using inline loads, see Using inline loads to load data.

Regional settings

Unless otherwise specified, the examples in this topic use the following date format: MM/DD/YYYY. The date format is specified in the SET DateFormat statement in your data load script. The default date formatting may be different in your system, due to your regional settings and other factors. You can change the formats in the examples below to suit your requirements. Or you can change the formats in your load script to match these examples.

Default regional settings in apps are based on the regional system settings of the computer or server where Qlik Sense is installed. If the Qlik Sense server you are accessing is set to Sweden, the Data load editor will use Swedish regional settings for dates, time, and currency. These regional format settings are not related to the language displayed in the Qlik Sense user interface. Qlik Sense will be displayed in the same language as the browser you are using.

Examples:

If you want ISO settings for weeks and week numbers, make sure to have the following in the script:

Set FirstWeekDay=0; Set BrokenWeeks=0; Set ReferenceDay=4; // Jan 4th is always in week 1

If you want US settings, make sure to have the following in the script:

Set FirstWeekDay=6; Set BrokenWeeks=1; Set ReferenceDay=1; // Jan 1st is always in week 1

Example 1 - Load script using the default value; ReferenceDay=0

Overview

Open the Data load editor and add the load script below to a new tab.

The load script contains:

The ReferenceDay variable that is set to 0.
The BrokenWeeks variable that is set to 0 which forces the app to use unbroken weeks.
A dataset of dates from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020.

Load script

SET BrokenWeeks = 0; 
SET ReferenceDay = 0; 

Sales: 
LOAD 
date, 
sales, 
week(date) as week, 
weekday(date) as weekday 
Inline [ 
date,sales 
12/27/2019,5000 
12/28/2019,6000 
12/29/2019,7000 
12/30/2019,4000 
12/31/2019,3000 
01/01/2020,6000 
01/02/2020,3000 
01/03/2020,6000 
01/04/2020,8000 
01/05/2020,5000 
01/06/2020,7000 
01/07/2020,3000 
01/08/2020,5000 
01/09/2020,9000 
01/10/2020,5000 
01/11/2020,7000 
];

Results

Load the data and open a sheet. Create a new table and add these fields as dimensions:

date
week
weekday

Results table
date	week	weekday
12/27/2019	52	Fri
12/28/2019	52	Sat
12/29/2019	1	Sun
12/30/2019	1	Mon
12/31/2019	1	Tue
01/01/2020	1	Wed
01/02/2020	1	Thu
01/03/2020	1	Fri
01/04/2020	1	Sat
01/05/2020	2	Sun
01/06/2020	2	Mon
01/07/2020	2	Tue
01/08/2020	2	Wed
01/09/2020	2	Thu
01/10/2020	2	Fri
01/11/2020	2	Sat

Week 52 concludes on Saturday, December 28. Because ReferenceDay requires January 4 to be included in week 1, week 1 therefore begins on December 29 and concludes on Saturday, January 4.

Example - ReferenceDay variable set to 5

Overview

Open the Data load editor and add the load script below to a new tab.

The load script contains:

The ReferenceDay variable that is set to 5.
The BrokenWeeks variable that is set to 0 which forces the app to use unbroken weeks.
A dataset of dates from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020.

Load script

SET BrokenWeeks = 0; 
SET ReferenceDay = 5; 
 
Sales: 
LOAD 
date, 
sales, 
week(date) as week, 
weekday(date) as weekday 
Inline [ 
date,sales 
12/27/2019,5000 
12/28/2019,6000 
12/29/2019,7000 
12/30/2019,4000 
12/31/2019,3000 
01/01/2020,6000 
01/02/2020,3000 
01/03/2020,6000 
01/04/2020,8000 
01/05/2020,5000 
01/06/2020,7000 
01/07/2020,3000 
01/08/2020,5000 
01/09/2020,9000 
01/10/2020,5000 
01/11/2020,7000 
];

Results

Load the data and open a sheet. Create a new table and add these fields as dimensions:

date
week
weekday

Results table
date	week	weekday
12/27/2019	52	Fri
12/28/2019	52	Sat
12/29/2019	53	Sun
12/30/2019	53	Mon
12/31/2019	53	Tue
01/01/2020	53	Wed
01/02/2020	53	Thu
01/03/2020	53	Fri
01/04/2020	53	Sat
01/05/2020	1	Sun
01/06/2020	1	Mon
01/07/2020	1	Tue
01/08/2020	1	Wed
01/09/2020	1	Thu
01/10/2020	1	Fri
01/11/2020	1	Sat

Week 52 concludes on Saturday, December 28. The BrokenWeeks variable forces the app to use unbroken weeks. The reference day value of 5 requires January 5 to be included in week 1.

However, this is eight days after the conclusion of week 52 of the previous year. Therefore, week 53 begins on December 29 and concludes on January 4. Week 1 begins on Sunday, January 5.

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