Return the number of days between two dates

=DAYS(end_date,start_date)

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Return the number of days between two dates stored either as serial numbers (e.g. 44599 = 7th February, 2022), text values (e.g. "7-Feb-2022") or cell refences (e.g. C3).

DAYS syntax requires an end_date and a start_date. If the end date is earlier than the start date, the result is negative.

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DAYS with numbers.

In the examples below, the DAYS function is used to calculate the number of days between two dates using serial numbers and cell references.

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DAYS with text.

In the examples below, the DAYS function is used to calculate the number of days between two dates written as text strings.

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Syntax

DAYS(end_date,start_date)

The DAYS function requires 2 arguments:

1. end_date. Required. The end_date to which to calculate the number of days.
2. start_date. Required. The start_date from which to calculate the number of days.

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Try it now!

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Scope

DAYS can calculate the number of days between 2 numeric or textual dates.

Number:	=DAYS(44599,44562) || result is 37 days where 44599 = 7-Feb-2022 and 44562 = 1-Jan-2022.
Text:	=DAYS("7-Feb-2022","1-Jan-2022") || result is 37 days
Cell References:	=DAYS(C7,C8) || result is 37 days where cell C7 contains the date 7-Feb-2022 and cell C8 the date 1-Jan-2022.

Caveats

• If both date arguments are numbers: DAYS uses end_date – start_date to calculate the number of days in between both dates.
• If either one of the date arguments is text: text argument is treated as DATEVALUE(date_text) and returns an integer date instead of a time component.
• If date arguments are numeric values that fall outside the range of valid dates: DAYS returns the #NUM! error.
• If date arguments are strings that cannot be parsed as valid dates: DAYS returns the #VALUE! error.
• Only full days are counted. Fractional time values are ignored.
• Dates should ideally be entered using the DATE function. Working with textual dates is more complicated and may necessitate extracting year, month and day components from a text string using for example LEFT, RIGHT and MID functions.

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Related Functions

• YEAR, MONTH, DAY returns the year, month or day from a date.
• HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND returns the year, month or day from a date.
• TODAY returns the current date.
• NOW returns the current date and time.

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Functions Category

• Date & Time

 

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