Months: Total months before or after the start date.You can change it to the date format from the Number section of the Home Tab. This function is best for users who want to know anniversary dates, retirement dates, maturity dates, etc.ĮDATE Function returns a new date as a serial number which Excel reads as a date. Using EDATE FunctionĭATEDIF Function is limited to calculating two given dates.With the EDATE Function, however, you can subtract months from a specific date. Note: If you get the output in a date format, convert it to a General format from the Home Tab. To subtract “ ” and “ ” in years, “y” is the unit. This formula returns 13 months difference between “ ” and “ “. To get the differences in months, we are referring to the “m” unit in the formula. Here, start_date is A2 and end_date is B2. When 400 days are divided by 7, you’ll get 57.14 weeks. To return the days in weeks, we will divide “d” days by 7.įirstly, this formula computes 400 days as result from “ ” to “ “. Like the above formula, A2 is start_date and B2 is end_date. This formula calculates the total days between “ ” and “ “. In the given formula, A2 is start_date and B2 is end_date. Since we want output in days, the unit is “d”. Now, let’s see the subtraction formula for these dates below. Suppose, you have Start Date: in the A2 cell and End Date: in the B2 cell as shown in the given picture. YM: Difference between the months of dates.It ignores months and years during calculation. MD: Difference between the days of given dates.The function arguments of this syntax are as follows: Syntax: DATEDIF(start_date,end_date, unit) So, if you have to subtract years, months, weeks, and days of two given dates, use the DATEDIF Function. With the DAYS function, you will get the differences in the number of days only.

Note: You will get a #NUM error if the beginning date is larger than the ending date. Here, you do not have to put the cell references inside a quotation mark. For this, type in =DAYS(B2,A2) formula and enter. This will allow you to use flash-fill for other ranges too. You will get 400 days as result.Īlternatively, you can also add a cell reference to the formula. Use this function if you want to find out the number of days between the end date and the start date.įor Example: Start Date: and End Date.

Using DAYS FunctionĮxcel’s DAYS function returns the duration of days between two dates. Depending on the type of information your need, we have compiled 6 different functions to subtract dates in Excel. However, if you are using Excel for professional purposes, you can calculate the total workdays or due dates using in-built functions. You can subtract dates and extract the duration between the starting date and the ending date. I personally subtract dates in Excel to quickly find out someone’s age, anniversaries dates, etc. Excel’s subtraction is not limited to numbers.

Excel formula to subtract dates