Excel Training London: day

The DAY function in Excel is used to extract the day of the month from a date. It returns a number between 1 and 31, representing the day of the month for a given date. Below is an explanation of the DAY function, along with examples of how to use it with data and formulas.

Syntax of the DAY Function

=DAY(serial_number)

serial_number: The date from which you want to extract the day. This can be a cell reference, a date entered directly, or a formula that returns a date.

Examples of Using the DAY Function

Example 1: Basic Usage

If you have a date in cell A1 (e.g., 10/25/2023), you can extract the day using:

=DAY(A1)

Result: 25 (because the day in 10/25/2023 is the 25th).

Example 2: Using a Hardcoded Date

You can also use a hardcoded date directly in the formula:

=DAY("2023-10-25")

Result: 25.

Example 3: Combining with Other Date Functions

You can combine DAY with other date functions like TODAY() to get the day of the current date:

=DAY(TODAY())

If today's date is 10/25/2023, the result will be 25.

Example 4: Extracting Day from a Text String

If you have a date stored as a text string (e.g., "October 25, 2023"), you can convert it to a date using the DATEVALUE function and then extract the day:

=DAY(DATEVALUE("October 25, 2023"))

Result: 25.

Example 5: Calculating Days Between Two Dates

You can use the DAY function to calculate the difference in days between two dates:

=DAY(A2) - DAY(A1)

If A1 contains 10/20/2023 and A2 contains 10/25/2023, the result will be 5.

Example 6: Conditional Formatting Based on Day

You can use the DAY function in conditional formatting to highlight specific days. For example, to highlight all dates where the day is greater than 15:

Select the range of dates.
Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule.
Use the formula:
excel
Copy
```
=DAY(A1) > 15
```
Apply the desired formatting.

Example 7: Extracting Day from a Timestamp

If you have a timestamp in cell A1 (e.g., 10/25/2023 14:30), you can still extract the day:

=DAY(A1)

Result: 25.

Example 8: Using DAY in a Nested Formula

You can use the DAY function in a nested formula to calculate the last day of the month:

=EOMONTH(A1, 0) - DAY(EOMONTH(A1, 0)) + 1

This formula calculates the first day of the month for the date in A1.

Example 9: Extracting Day from a Date in a Different Format

If your date is in a non-standard format (e.g., 25-10-2023), you can still use the DAY function:

=DAY(DATE(2023, 10, 25))

Result: 25.

Example 10: Using DAY with IF Function

You can use the DAY function with the IF function to perform conditional checks. For example, to check if a date is in the first half of the month:

=IF(DAY(A1) <= 15, "First Half", "Second Half")

If A1 contains 10/10/2023, the result will be "First Half".

Example 11: Extracting Day from a Date Array

If you have an array of dates in cells A1:A10, you can extract the days for all dates using an array formula (in Excel 365 or Excel 2021):

=DAY(A1:A10)

This will return an array of days corresponding to the dates in A1:A10.

Example 12: Combining DAY with TEXT Function

You can use the DAY function with the TEXT function to format the day as text:

=TEXT(DAY(A1), "00")

If A1 contains 10/5/2023, the result will be 05.

Key Notes

The DAY function works with valid Excel dates. If the input is not a valid date, it will return an error.
Ensure that the cell containing the date is formatted as a date, not as text.

Excel Training London

Thursday, 30 January 2025

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