Google Sheets
DATE function in Google Sheets
Converts a provided year, month, and day into a date.
=DATE(year, month, day)DATE syntax and parameters
Three arguments, three required.
- yearnumberRequired
The year component of the date.
- monthnumberRequired
The month component of the date.
- daynumberRequired
The day component of the date.
DATE examples
Formulas you'll actually reuse.
A real date from year, month and day columns — sortable, unlike text:
=DATE(B2, C2, D2)Result
2026-08-14Months overflow into the next year — month 13 becomes January 2027:
=DATE(2026, 13, 1)Result
2027-01-01
DATE in Excel
Same name — your formula ports as-is.
Try DATE in the playground
Edit the example — nothing to install.
Preloaded with the DATE formula from Example 1 — change anything and watch it respond.
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DATE errors
What they mean — and the fixes.
#VALUE!A part isn't numeric — a text month like "Aug" needs MONTH(DATEVALUE(...)) or a lookup first.
Related functions
More ways Google Sheets gets this done.
- DATEDIFCalculates the number of days, months, or years between two dates.DateExcel
- DATEVALUEConverts a provided date string in a known format to a date value.DateExcel
- DAYReturns the day of the month that a specific date falls on, in numeric format.DateExcel
- DAYSReturns the number of days between two dates.DateExcel
- DAYS360Returns the difference between two days based on the 360 day year used in some financial interest calculations.DateExcel
- EDATEReturns a date a specified number of months before or after another date.DateExcel