Excel YEAR Function

The Excel YEAR function returns the year from a date serial number as an integer between 1900 and 9999.

Syntax: =YEAR(serial_number)

Where the serial_number is a date in a format Excel recognises known as the date-time serial number.

Excel YEAR Function Examples

Excel YEAR Function

Tip: Rows 11:15 contain dates as text in column B, but YEAR is still able to return the year number! Where a year isn't specified Excel will assume the year from your PC clock. Don't rely on dates stored as text as results may be hit and miss.

You can also nest the DATE Function inside YEAR, like so:

Formula: =YEAR( DATE(2017,03,15) )
Result:  =2017

Or DATEVALUE like so:

Formula: =YEAR( DATEVALUE("2017/03/15") )
Result:  =2017

You can also use the YEAR function to populate the year argument of the DATE function e.g.

=DATE(YEAR(B9),12,25))

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Related Tutorials

Excel DATE Function Returns a date in serial number from separate year, month and day values
Excel MONTH Function Returns the month from a date serial number.
Excel DAY Function Returns the day (of the month) from a date serial number
Excel DATEVALUE Function Converts a date text string to a date serial number