The DAYS function is a simple date function that lets you calculate the number of days between two dates. The same result can arrived at by simply subtracting two dates such as: ="7/31/2016"-"6/5/1991".
Purpose
The DAYS function returns the number of days between two dates.
Related functions
DATEDIF – Calculate length of time between two dates in years, months, and/or days.
MINUS – Subtract one value from another. Can be done with dates.
Errors
#NUM – The inputs are numbers but are not valid dates. This could happen if you used the 35th day of November, “11/352018”.
#VALUE! – The inputs are something that doesn’t convert to a number such as “The other day” or “Yester-yester-day”.
Syntax
=DAYS(end_date,start_date)
Note that, for some reason, the function wants the ending date first, then the starting date.
Video Explanation
Examples
A few simple examples of the DAYS function.
| Formula | Description | Result |
=DAYS("7/31/2017","7/31/2017") |
Number of days between 7/31/2017 and 7/30/2016 | 366 |
=DAYS("1/7/2020","12/5/2015") |
Number of days between 12/5/2015 and 1/7/2020 | 1,494 |
=DAYS(C3,"2/9/1994") |
Number of days between 3/5/2001 (assuming that the value was in C3) and 2/9/1994 | -2,581 |
Live examples in Sheets
Go to this spreadsheet for the examples of the DAYS function that you can study and use anywhere you would like.