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DATE Function (DAX)

Returns the specified date in datetime format.

Syntax

DATE(<year>, <month>, <day>)

Parameters

Term

Definition

year

A number representing the year.

The value of the year argument can include one to four digits. The year argument is interpreted according to the date system used by your computer.

Dates beginning with March 1, 1900 are supported.

If you enter a number that has decimal places, the number is rounded.

For values greater than 9999 or less than zero (negative values), the function returns a #VALUE! error.

If the year value is between 0 and 1899, the value is added to 1900 to produce the final value. See the examples below.

NoteNote
You should use four digits for the year argument whenever possible to prevent unwanted results. For example, using 07 returns 1907 as the year value.

month

A number representing the month or a calculation according to the following rules:

If month is a number from 1 to 12, then it represents a month of the year. 1 represents January, 2 represents February, and so on until 12 that represents December.

If you enter an integer larger than 12, the following computation occurs: the date is calculated by adding the value of month to the year. For example, if you have DATE( 2008, 18, 1), the function returns a datetime value equivalent to June 1st of 2009, because 18 months are added to the beginning of 2008 yielding a value of June 2009. See examples below.

If you enter a negative integer, the following computation occurs: the date is calculated subtracting the value of month from year. For example, if you have DATE( 2008, -6, 15), the function returns a datetime value equivalent to June 15th of 2007, because when 6 months are subtracted from the beginning of 2008 it yields a value of June 2007. See examples below.

day

A number representing the day or a calculation according to the following rules:

If day is a number from 1 to the last day of the given month then it represents a day of the month.

If you enter an integer larger than last day of the given month, the following computation occurs: the date is calculated by adding the value of day to month. For example, in the formula DATE( 2008, 3, 32), the DATE function returns a datetime value equivalent to April 1st of 2008, because 32 days are added to the beginning of March yielding a value of April 1st.

If you enter a negative integer, the following computation occurs: the date is calculated subtracting the value of day from month. For example, in the formula DATE( 2008, 5, -15), the DATE function returns a datetime value equivalent to April 15th of 2008, because 15 days are subtracted from the beginning of May 2008 yielding a value of April 2008.

If day contains a decimal portion, it is rounded to the nearest integer value.

Return Value

Returns the specified date (datetime).

Remarks

The DATE function takes the integers that are input as arguments, and generates the corresponding date. The DATE function is most useful in situations where the year, month, and day are supplied by formulas. For example, the underlying data might contain dates in a format that is not recognized as a date, such as YYYYMMDD. You can use the DATE function in conjunction with other functions to convert the dates to a number that can be recognized as a date.

In contrast to Microsoft Excel, which stores dates as a serial number, PowerPivot date functions always return a datetime data type. However, you can use formatting to display dates as serial numbers if you want.

Example: Returning a Simple Date

Description

The following formula returns the date July 8, 2009:

Code

=DATE(2009,7,8)

Example: Years before 1899

Description

If the value that you enter for the year argument is between 0 (zero) and 1899 (inclusive), that value is added to 1900 to calculate the year. The following formula returns January 2, 1908: (1900+08).

Code

=DATE(08,1,2)

Example: Years before 1899

Description

If the value that you enter for the year argument is between 0 (zero) and 1899 (inclusive), that value is added to 1900 to calculate the year. The following formula returns January 2, 3700: (1900+1800).

Code

=DATE(1800,1,2)

Example: Years after 1899

Description

If year is between 1900 and 9999 (inclusive), that value is used as the year. The following formula returns January 2, 2008:

Code

=DATE(2008,1,2)

Example: Working with Months

Description

If month is greater than 12, month adds that number of months to the first month in the year specified. The following formula returns the date February 2, 2009:

Code

=DATE(2008,14,2)

Comment

If the month value is less than 1, the DATE function subtracts the magnitude of that number of months, plus 1, from the first month in the year specified. The following formula returns September 2, 2007:

=DATE(2008,-3,2)

Example: Working with Days

Description

If day is greater than the number of days in the month specified, day adds that number of days to the first day in the month. The following formula returns the date February 4, 2008:

Code

=DATE(2008,1,35)

Comment

If day is less than 1, day subtracts the magnitude that number of days, plus one, from the first day of the month specified. The following formula returns December 16, 2007:

=DATE(2008,1,-15)