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Workday

The workday binary sensor indicates whether the current day is a workday or not. It allows specifying which days of the week will count as workdays and also uses the Python module holidays to incorporate information about region-specific public holidays.

This can be used to make automations that act differently on weekdays vs weekends. For example, you could make your bedroom lights turn on (gently) at 7 in the morning if it is a weekday, but wait until 11 if it is a weekend day.

Setup

Check the country list for available provinces (and other subdivisions, like states and territories) for each country.

Configuration

To enable the workday sensor in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: workday
    country: DE

Configuration Variables

Looking for your configuration file?
name string (Optional, default: Workday Sensor)

A name for this sensor.

country string Required

Country code according to holidays notation.

province string (Optional)

Subdivision code according to holidays notation.

workdays list (Optional)

List of workdays.

Default:

[mon, tue, wed, thu, fri]

excludes list (Optional, default: [sat, sun, holiday])

List of workday excludes.

days_offset integer (Optional, default: 0)

Set days offset (e.g., -1 for yesterday, 1 for tomorrow).

add_holidays list (Optional)

Add custom holidays (such as company, personal holidays or vacations). Needs to formatted as YYYY-MM-DD.

remove_holidays list (Optional)

Remove holidays (treat holiday as workday). Can be formatted as YYYY-MM-DD or by name for a partial string match (e.g. Thanksgiving).

Days are specified as follows: mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat, sun. The keyword holiday is used for public holidays identified by the holidays module.

If you use the sensor for Norway (NO) you need to wrap NO in quotes or write the name in full. Otherwise, the value is evaluated as false. If you use the sensor for Canada (CA) with Ontario (ON) as province: then you need to wrap ON in quotes. Otherwise, the value is evaluated as true (check the YAML documentation for further details) and the sensor will not work.

One other thing to watch is how the holiday keyword is used. Your first instinct might be to add it to the exclude configuration, thinking that it means to skip the holidays. Actually it means to exclude the days in the holidays list from the workdays. So, when you exclude holiday and a workday falls on that day, then that workday is excluded, and the sensor will be off. If you want every workday flagged with no regard to holidays, make sure that there is something in your Excludes configuration other than holiday.

Full examples

This example excludes Saturdays and Sundays but not pre-configured holidays. Two custom holidays are added.

# Example 1 configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: workday
    country: US
    workdays: [mon, tue, wed, thu, fri]
    excludes: [sat, sun]
    add_holidays:
      - "2020-02-24"
      - "2020-04-25"

This example excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. One custom holiday is added. The date February 24th, 2020 is a Monday, but will be excluded (the sensor will be off) because it was added to the add_holidays configuration.

# Example 2 configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: workday
    country: DE
    workdays: [mon, tue, wed, thu, fri]
    excludes: [sat, sun, holiday]
    add_holidays:
      - '2020-02-24'

This example excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Two holidays are removed: November 26, 2020 and December 25, 2020.

# Example 3 configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: workday
    country: US
    workdays: [mon, tue, wed, thu, fri]
    excludes: [sat, sun, holiday]
    remove_holidays:
      - '2020-11-26'
      - '2020-12-25'

This example excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Two holidays are removed by name: Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

# Example 4 configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: workday
    country: US
    workdays: [mon, tue, wed, thu, fri]
    excludes: [sat, sun, holiday]
    remove_holidays:
      - 'Thanksgiving'
      - 'Christmas Day'

Automation example

Example usage for automation:

automation:
  alias: "Turn on heater on workdays"
  trigger:
    platform: time
    at: "08:00:00"
  condition:
    condition: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.workday_sensor
    state: "on"
  action:
    service: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.heater