Excel EDATE Function

EDATE is a built-in excel Date/ Time function and it is used to add or subtract a specified number of months to a date and fetches the result as a serial date. It is a worksheet function means it can be used in combination with other functions. Excel Edate function is good to use to calculate the maturity dates or due dates that fall on the same day of the month as the date of issue.

Purpose

To shift date n months in future or past

Syntax

EDATE(start_date, months)

Arguments

• Start_date. REQUIRED. The start day from which future or past number of months will be counted.

Dates should be entered by using the DATE function or as results of other formulas. The function will return errors if dates are entered as text

• Months. REQUIRED.A number of months to add or subtract

Return Type

New date in future or past as excel serial number

Return Value

Date in serial number form

Remark.

• The Excel EDATE function returns a serial number representing the date. To force Excel to display it as a date, you should apply the Date format to the cells with your EDATE formulas
• If a decimal value is provided for months, the EDATE function will only add the integer portion to start_date
• If start_date is not a valid date, the EDATE function will return the #VALUE! error