Date & Time Functions

Date & Time functions in Microsoft Excel are used to work with dates, times, and timestamps. They allow you to create, manipulate, format, and calculate dates and times. Here’s an overview of some commonly used Date & Time functions:

1. TODAY()



• Purpose: Returns the current date.
• Syntax: =TODAY()
• Example: If today is October 14, 2024, =TODAY() will return 10/14/2024.



2. NOW()

Purpose: Returns the current date and time.

• Syntax: =NOW()



Example: If the current date and time are October 14, 2024, 3:30 PM, =NOW() will return 10/14/2024 15:30.




3. DATE(year, month, day)



• Purpose: Creates a date based on the year, month, and day provided.
• Syntax: =DATE(year, month, day)
• Example: =DATE(2024, 10, 14) returns 10/14/2024.



4. TIME(hour, minute, second)



• Purpose: Creates a time value based on the hour, minute, and second provided.
• Syntax: =TIME(hour, minute, second)
• Example: =TIME(15, 30, 0) returns 3:30 PM.



5. YEAR(serial_number)



• Purpose: Extracts the year from a given date.
• Syntax: =YEAR(serial_number)
• Example: =YEAR(DATE(2024, 10, 14)) returns 2024.



6. HOUR(serial_number)



• Purpose: Extracts the hour from a time value.
• Syntax: =HOUR(serial_number)
• Example: =HOUR(TIME(15, 30, 0)) returns 15.



7. MINUTE(serial_number)



• Purpose: Extracts the minute from a time value.
• Syntax: =MINUTE(serial_number)
• Example: =MINUTE(TIME(15, 30, 0)) returns 30.



8. SECOND(serial_number)



• Purpose: Extracts the second from a time value.
• Syntax: =SECOND(serial_number)
• Example: =SECOND(TIME(15, 30, 0)) returns 0.



These functions allow you to handle a wide range of calculations with dates and times, making it easier to manage schedules, deadlines, and time-based analyses in Excel.