Date
Building a date from three numbers
Definition
Building a date from a year, a month, and a day in separate cells means giving DATE those three parts in that order.
Syntax
=DATE(year, month, day)
Arguments
| Argument | Meaning |
|---|---|
year |
The four-digit year, such as 2020. |
month |
The month number from 1 through 12. |
day |
The day of the month from 1 through 31. |
Worked example
An archive stores year, month, and day in separate columns for each box.
| A: Box | B: Year | C: Month | D: Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-12 | 2020 | 3 | 15 |
| A-13 | 2018 | 11 | 2 |
| A-14 | 2021 | 7 | 9 |
Formula: =DATE(B2,C2,D2)
Result: 43905. That serial is 15 March 2020, built from 2020, 3, and 15.
Practice
Cell A2 holds 2025. Cell B2 holds 12. Cell C2 holds 1. In D2, write a formula that builds a date from that year, month, and day.
- In D2, write a DATE formula for year A2, month B2, and day C2.
- D2 should show the date for 2025, 12, and 1.
Step 1 of 2
Enter =DATE(A2,B2,C2) in D2.
Year 2025, month 12, and day 1 is 45992.
Formulas here use English function names, such as SUM, and a period as the decimal separator, in every language.
Loading the sheet…
D2 uses DATE.
D2 now shows 45992.
The next lesson is Reading the year from a date.
Related functions
DATE is the function that turns those three numbers into one date.
Common mistake
Putting day first, as in =DATE(D2,C2,B2): 15, 3, and 2020 become the year 15, so the date is wrong.