The DAY function in Google Sheets is a useful tool for extracting the day portion from a date. This function allows users to isolate and utilize the day component in various calculations and analyses involving dates. Understanding how to correctly implement the DAY function can greatly enhance data management capabilities.

Syntax

DAY(serial_number)

• serial_number: This parameter represents a valid date from which you want to extract the day. It can be entered directly as a date or as a reference to a cell containing a date.

Example #1

DAY(A1)

This function retrieves the day from the date in cell A1. For example, if A1 contains ‘2023-10-05’, the result would be 5.

Example #2

DAY("2023-07-14")

This function directly uses a date string and extracts the day, resulting in 14.

Example #3

DAY(TODAY())

This function returns the current day of the month based on today’s date. If today is ‘2023-10-05’, the result will be 5.

Error handling

• VALUE!: Occurs when the input is not a valid date. Ensure the input is formatted correctly as a date.
• NUM!: Happens if the date value is outside the allowable range for date functions. Ensure the date falls within the acceptable range for Google Sheets.

Conclusion

In summary, the DAY function is a straightforward yet powerful feature in Google Sheets. By allowing users to extract the day from any valid date, it facilitates a variety of date-related operations. Mastering this function can improve both efficiency and accuracy when handling date data.