Find date text in cell (Variable text format)

[Searshc]

I have a cell containing text strings that vary wildly. For example, a common cell might read: Steven Bruce 738226 (LA) New 5/2 **LG**

I only need to look for and extract the date value, but here's the rub: People have the date listed as 5/2, or 5/2/15, or 5/02/2015, etc. I need a way to pull the date regardless of how people formatted it. I have been trying to use
=VALUE(MID($N4,SEARCH("?/?",$N4),9)))

It solves for it sometimes, depending on the format, but other times it doesn't. What can I use to find the date value? It is always in a text cell, and always mixed up with other names/numbers. The only absolute is that the date can be recognized by the slash "/".

 

[Worf]

It's easy if the date is always surrounded by spaces:

Plan4

*	F
*

<tbody>
[TD="bgcolor: #cacaca, align: center"]9[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Steven Bruce 738226 (LA) New 5/2 **LG**[/TD]

[TD="bgcolor: #cacaca, align: center"]10[/TD]

[TD="bgcolor: #cacaca, align: center"]11[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5/2[/TD]

</tbody>

Spreadsheet Formulas

Cell Formula F11 =ExtractDate("f9") <tbody> </tbody>

<tbody>
</tbody>

' place this in a module

Function ExtractDate$(r$)
Dim a, i%
a = Split(Range(r), " ")
For i = LBound(a) To UBound(a)
    If InStr(a(i), "/") > 0 Then
        ExtractDate = a(i)
        Exit Function
    End If
Next
End Function

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