DATE combines numeric year, month and day components into a date value. It also normalizes out-of-range months and days, so it is not an input-validation function.
DATE function syntax
=DATE(year, month, day)- year: use the full year, such as 2026.
- month: month component; values outside 1–12 roll to another year.
- day: day component; excess or zero days roll to another month.
Set up the example data
Enter this small dataset starting in A1. The first row contains headers. Keep the formula output separate from the input cells.
| Year | Month | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 15 |
| 2024 | 2 | 29 |
| 2026 | 13 | 1 |
| 2026 | 1 | 32 |
Build a date from separate cells
Enter this formula in A10. This produces January 15, 2026. Format the result as a date if it displays a serial number.
=DATE(A2,B2,C2)Result: 2026-01-15.
Roll an extra month into the next year
Month thirteen of 2026 becomes January 2027. Month zero instead refers to December of the preceding year.
=DATE(A4,B4,C4)Result: 2027-01-01.
Roll extra days into the next month
Day thirty-two of January becomes February first. Day zero means the last day of the previous month.
=DATE(A5,B5,C5)Result: 2026-02-01.
Add a year to a leap-day date
February 29 does not exist in 2025, so DATE normalizes this to March first. Use EDATE if you want a month-based shift with month-end adjustment.
=DATE(A3+1,B3,C3)Result: 2025-03-01.
Understand short years
For years zero through 1899, Google adds 1900. The value 24 means 1924, not year 24 and not 2024. Use four-digit years.
=DATE(24,1,1)Result: 1924-01-01.
Create the fifth day of successive months
SEQUENCE supplies month numbers one through three. The result lists the fifth of each month. DATE requires three components; DATEVALUE parses a supported date string.
=ARRAYFORMULA(DATE(2026,SEQUENCE(3),5))Result: 2026-01-05; 2026-02-05; 2026-03-05.
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