Working with Dates and Time

The TODAY function returns the current date in date format without the time. This is useful for automatically updating the date in calculations when the document is recalculated.

The NOW function returns the current date and time. This is useful for automatically tracking the exact time of updates or other operations.

Syntax and Examples

TODAY()
NOW()

Working with Dates

The DATE function allows you to create a date from individual year, month, and day values. This is useful for combining values into a single date or for date calculations.

The DATEVALUE function converts a text string representing a date into a date format. This is useful when the date is written as a string, and you need to work with it as a numerical value for calculations.

Syntax and Examples

DATE(year, month, day)

• year - The year component of the date.
• month - The month component of the date;
• day - The day component of the date;

DATEVALUE(date_string)

• date_string - The string representing the date;
  • Understood formats include any date format that is automatically converted when entered into a cell, without quotation marks. The formats may vary based on region and language settings.

Working with Times

The TIME function allows you to create a time value from hours, minutes, and seconds. This is useful for working with time intervals or event calculations.

The TIMEVALUE function converts a text string representing time into a numerical time value. This is useful if the time is recorded as text, but you need to work with it as a numerical value.

Syntax and Examples

TIME(hour, minute, second)

• hour - The hour component of the time;
• minute - The minute component of the time;
• second - The second component of the time.

TIMEVALUE(time_string)

time_string - The string that holds the time representation.

Extracting Year, Month, and Day

The YEAR function extracts the year from a date. This is useful when you need to separate the year for data analysis or filtering by year.

The MONTH function extracts the month from a date. This is useful for analyzing data by month or grouping data by months.

The DAY function returns the day of the month from a date. This is useful for filtering data by days or analyzing events that occurred on a specific day of the month.

Syntax and Examples

YEAR(date)

date - The date from which to calculate the year. Must be a cell reference to a cell containing a date, a function returning a date type, or a number.

MONTH(date)

date - The date from which to extract the month. Must be a reference to a cell containing a date, a function returning a date type, or a number.

DAY(date)

date - The date from which to extract the day. Must be a reference to a cell containing a date, a function returning a date type, or a number.