When working with date data, being able to extract the month number and name from a date is a valuable skill. Whether you’re organizing schedules, analyzing trends, or creating reports, knowing how to get the month number and name in Excel can make your tasks much easier. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about extracting month information from dates in Excel.
Understanding Month Extraction:
Extracting the month information from a date in Excel involves obtaining both the month number (e.g., 1 for January, 2 for February) and the month name (e.g., “January”, “February”) from a given date. Excel provides built-in functions and formulas that make this process straightforward and efficient.
Methods of Month Extraction:
Excel offers several methods for extracting the month number and name from a date, each suited to different scenarios and preferences. Let’s explore some of the most common methods:
Using the MONTH Function:
The MONTH function in Excel returns the month number from a given date. You can use this function to extract the month number directly from a date.
=MONTH(A2)
This formula extracts the month number from the date in cell A2.
Using the TEXT Function:
The TEXT function in Excel allows you to format a date or time value based on a specified format code. By using a custom format code for the month (“mm” for the month number, “mmmm” for the full month name), you can extract the month information as text.
These formulas extract the month number and full month name, respectively, from the date in cell A2.
To extract the month number:
=TEXT(A2, "mm")
To extract the full month name:
=TEXT(A2, "mmmm")
Using the MONTH and TEXT Functions Combined:
You can also combine the MONTH and TEXT functions to extract both the month number and name in a single formula.
=TEXT(DATE(YEAR(A2), MONTH(A2), 1), "mmmm")
This formula first constructs a new date with the same year and month as the original date but with the day set to 1, and then extracts the full month name from this new date.