Function: YEAR

by | Nov 13, 2018 | Excel Formulas

Excel Year Function

The Excel YEAR function returns the year from a specified date serial number. In this guide, we’re going to show you how to use this function and also go over some tips and error handling methods.

Supported versions

  • All Excel versions

Excel YEAR Function Syntax

YEAR(serial_number)

Arguments

serial_number

Actual date from which you want to find the year.


Examples

=VLOOKUP(O2,C2:L16,2,FALSE)
 formula searches value of cell O2 ("Alakazam") in first column of the table C2:L16. When [range_lookup] argument is FALSE, the function assumes that the searched value exists in the first column exactly. If the formula finds the value, it returns the value in 2nd column of matched row.

YEAR Example 1

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Tips

  • Excel stores dates as numbers. Excel assumes that the date 1/1/1900 is 1, and increases this number by 1 for each year. For example; 12/31/2018 is equal to 43465. Because of this, avoid using dates as text although the YEAR function can work with dates that match your local format. Use the DATE function to generate Date values.
  • Year of a date can be retrieved using number formatting as well. Use yyyy as Custom Format to display only the year. However, the actual value will remain same, this only changes how data is displayed. For more information see Number Formatting in Excel - All You Need to Know