Use the DATE function to combine columns with date parts - Date and Time Functions - Microsoft Excel Tutorials | Microsoft Excel Tutorials | The World of Tutorials

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Use the DATE function to combine columns with date parts - Date and Time Functions - Microsoft Excel Tutorials

Use the DATE function to combine columns with date parts using Microsoft Excel

The Excel worksheet shown in Figure 4-7 uses three columns showing dates. Column A lists years, column B lists months using numbers from 1 to 12, and column C contains the days of a month from 1 to 31. These columns have to be combined to show one formatted date.

To do so, use the DATE function.

DATE(year, month, day)

year: This argument can be from one to four digits. Microsoft Excel for Windows uses the 1900 date system.

month: A number representing the month of the year (1 to 12).
day: A number representing the day of the month (1 to 31).

To combine values of cells into one date:

1. Select cells D2:D10 and type the following formula:=DATE(A2,B2,C2).
2. Press <-Ctrl+Enter->.

Note that Excel knows which years are leap years, and thus provides correct results even when incorrect data is entered, as in row 3.