Purpose
Get the current date
Return value
Excel date as a serial number
Syntax
=TODAY()Using the TODAY function
The TODAY function returns the current date, and will continually update each time the worksheet is updated. Use F9 to force the worksheet to recalculate and update the value.
The value returned by the TODAY function is a standard Excel date. To display the result as a date, apply a date number format. Optionally customize the number format as you like. If you want the current date with a time value, use the NOW function.
Examples
The TODAY function can be used on its own, or combined with other functions. The formulas below show how the TODAY function can be used in various ways:
=TODAY() // current date
=TODAY()-7 // one week in past
=TODAY()+7 // one week in future
=TODAY()+90 // 90 days from today
=EDATE(TODAY(),3) // 3 months from today
=EDATE(TODAY(),12) // 1 year from today
=EDATE(TODAY(),-12) // 1 year in the past
=EOMONTH(TODAY(),-1)+1 // first day of current month
=TODAY()+TIME(18,0,0) // today at 6:00 PM
=TODAY()+1+TIME(12,0,0) // tomorrow at noon
Static date and time
If you need a static date and time that won't change, you can use the following shortcuts:
- Insert current date - Control + ;
- Insert current time - Control + Shift + :
To enter both values in a single cell, enter the date, a space, then the time.
Formatting results
The result of TODAY is a serial number representing a valid Excel date. You can format the value returned by TODAY using any standard date format. You can use the TEXT function to build a text message that includes the current date:
="The current date is "&TEXT(TODAY(),"mmm d")
To return a message like "The current date is May 31".
TODAY function examples
Highlight dates in the next N days
The AND function takes multiple arguments and returns TRUE only when all arguments return TRUE. The TODAY function returns the current date. Dates in Excel are simply large serial numbers, so you can create a new relative date by adding or subtracting days. TODAY() + 30 creates a new date 30 days...
Conditional formatting date past due
In this example, we want to apply three different colors, depending on how much the original date varies from the current date: Green if the variance is less than 3 days Yellow if the variance is between 3 and 10 days Red if the variance is greater than 10 days For each rule, we calculate a...
Invoice age and status
The goal is to calculate the correct invoice status ("OK", "Paid", or "Overdue") using the following rules: If there is an "x" in the "Paid" column, return "Paid". If there is not an "x" in the "Paid" column, and if the age is less than 31 days, return "OK" If there is not an "x" in the "Paid"...
Dynamic calendar grid
Note: This example assumes the start date will be provided as the first of the month. See below for a formula that will dynamically return the first day of the current month. With the layout of the grid as shown, the main problem is to calculate the date in the first cell in the calendar (B6). This...
Get days between dates
Dates in Excel are serial numbers that start on 1/1/1900, which is represented by the number 1. In the example shown, the formula in cell D6 simply subtracts the numeric value of 1/1/1999 (36161) from the numeric value of 1/1/2000 (36526) to get a result of 365. The steps look like this: =C6-B6 =...
Dynamic calendar formula
Note: This example assumes the start date will be provided as the first of the month. See below for a formula that will automatically return the first day of the current month. In this example, the goal is to generate a dynamic calendar for any given month, based on a start date entered in cell J6...
Get age from birthday
The DATEDIF function (Date + Dif) is a bit of an anomaly in Excel. A compatibility function that comes originally from Lotus 1-2-3, Excel will not help supply arguments when the function is entered. However, DATEDIF works in all modern versions of Excel and is a useful function for calculating the...
Data validation allow weekday only
Data validation rules are triggered when a user adds or changes a cell value. This custom validation formula uses the WEEKDAY function to get a numeric value, 1-7, corresponding to a week beginning Monday (1) and ending Sunday (7). To get a number for a Monday-based week, the return_type argument...
Data validation date in next 30 days
Data validation rules are triggered when a user adds or changes a cell value. The TODAY function returns today's date (recalculated an on on-going basis). The AND function takes multiple logical expressions and returns TRUE only when all expressions return TRUE. In this case, we need to test two...
Working days left in month
NETWORKDAYS is a built in function accepts a start date, end date, and (optionally) a range that contains holiday dates. In this case, the start date is Jan 10, 2018, provided as cell B5. The end date is calculated using the EOMONTH function with an offset of zero, which returns the last day of the...
Dynamic date list
Dates in Excel are just serial numbers , formatted to display as dates. This means you can perform math operations on dates to calculate days in the future or past. In the example shown, the date in the named range "start" is provided by the TODAY function: =TODAY() //returns current date The...
Get stock price (latest close)
In this example, the goal is to retrieve the last available close price for each symbol shown in column B. This can be done with the STOCKHISTORY function . The main purpose of STOCKHISTORY is to retrieve historical stock price information, and we need to make a few adjustments to prevent errors...
Working days in year
NETWORKDAYS is a built-in function accepts a start date, an end date, and (optionally) a range that contains holiday dates. In the example shown, we generate the start and end date using the DATE function like this: DATE(D5,1,1) // first day of year DATE(D5,12,31) // last day of year The DATE...
Happy birthday message
In this example, the goal is to display a Happy Birthday message when a birthday in a given cell matches the current date. The core of the problem is to compare the given birthday to the current date while ignoring the year. There are two main ways to approach the problem. The first way is to use...
Sum last 30 days
In this example, the goal is to calculate total amounts in column C that occur in the last 30 days, based on a current date of December 30, 2022. There are three basic approaches to solving this problem: (1) a traditional approach based on the SUMIFS function , (2) a more flexible approach that...
TODAY function videos
How to calculate and highlight expiration dates
In this video we'll look at how to calculate and highlight expiration dates. Let's say your company has started a membership program of some kind and your boss just sent you a set of data. She's given you a list of 1,000 people that have renewed a membership in the last year or so, and she's...
How to step through complex formulas using Evaluate
Excel has a handy feature called Evaluate Formula, which solves a formula one step at a time. Each time you click the Evaluate button, Excel will solve the underlined part of the formula and show you the result. Here's the same worksheet we looked at in a previous video when we talked about...
How to display current date and time
In this video we look at several ways to handle current dates and times. You may often want to enter a current date and time into a worksheet. A simple way to do this is to enter a time or date stamp. You can do this using keyboard shortcuts. Control semicolon enters the current date. Control-Shift...
How to check and debug a formula with F9
One thing you'll frequently do in Excel is check or debug formulas. In this video, we'll look at how to use the F9 key to quickly break a formula down into pieces that you can understand. Here we have a simple list of names. In addition to names, we have a column for birthdate, a column for age,...
How to use function arguments
You've probably noticed that functions use parentheses, and inside those parentheses are certain inputs. These inputs have a special name: arguments. Let's look at some examples. Arguments can be required or optional. Some functions take three or more arguments, and some functions don't take any...
Related functions
NOW Function
The Excel NOW function returns the current date and time, updated continuously when a worksheet is changed or opened. The NOW function takes no arguments. You can format the value returned by NOW as a date, or as a date with time by applying a number format...
TEXT Function
The Excel TEXT function returns a number formatted as text. This makes it easy to embed a formatted number (e.g., dates, times, currencies, percentages, fractions, etc.) in a text string with the number format of your choice.
