Date function returns "SAT" when date cell is empty

Sorry I entered the wrong formula. Post should have read:

I need to get the Date function that shows day of the week cell (a3) to be empty when the date cell (R3) is blank. I am using the formula =TEXT(A3,”DDD”) in my day of week cell R3. When date cell (A3) is empty, day of week cell (R3) shows "SAT" instead for being blank like the date cell (A3). I don't see any references in the day of week explanation about this problem. I would like help with this.

That's not a valid formula. Please post it all.

Isn't this simply because date serial number 0 (blank cells are treated as the number 0) is the serial number for Saturday 0 Jan, 1900? What would you want =TEXT(0,"DDD") to output other than SAT?

(I know that, technically, 1 Jan 1900 is a Monday, not Sunday. This is due to a long standing "error" that erroneously treats the year 1900 as a leap year).

The TEXT() function takes the input value, and applies the number format to the value, then outputs the result as a text string. So =TEXT(A3,"DDD"):
1) When A3 is any number, the TEXT() treats the number as a date serial number, places the date on its calendar, and outputs the corresponding day of the week.
2) When A3 is blank, A3 is treated as if it were 0, so, the function outputs SAT, because date serial 0 corresponds to Saturday Jan 0, 1900
3) When A3 is a space " " (or other text string), the TEXT() function reads the text, applies the number format to the text string (but number formats have no effect on text strings), so the input string is output without modification (you might try using a visible input string like "a" or "dog").

If you want blank to propagate through the TEXT() function, you will need some kind of IF() function in there to test for the blank. Something like =TEXT(IF(ISBLANK(A3),"",A3),"DDD") or =IF(ISBLANK(A3),"",TEXT(A3,"DDD")) or equivalent.