Excel TODAY Function
TODAY Function
The TODAY function is a premade function in Excel, which returns the current date.
It is typed =TODAY and has no parts:
=TODAY()
The parentheses are needed, even though there is nothing inside them.
Note: TODAY changes every day. Excel updates the date each time the workbook is opened or recalculated.
The results on this page are shown if today is 2026-09-28. Each example also has a formula with a fixed date, which gives the same results on any day.
Excel stores every date as a number, called a serial number. 1900-01-01 is number 1, 1900-01-02 is number 2, and so on.
2026-09-28 is number 46293. A1 and B1 have the same value. A1 is formatted as a date, and B1 is formatted as General:
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-09-28 | 46293 |
Because dates are numbers, you can subtract one date from another. The result is the number of days between them.
Tip: To type today's date as a fixed value that does not change, press Ctrl+; (semicolon).
How to use the TODAY function to count the days since a date:
- Select a cell (
D2) - Type
=TODAY() - Type (
-) - Select the cell with the date (
C2) - Hit enter
Let's have a look at an example!
These are some recent orders from the Poke Mart (example data). Copy them and paste them into cell A1:
Example data
A B C 1 Trainer Item Order Date 2 Ash Poke Ball 2026-09-21 3 Misty Super Potion 2026-09-14 4 Brock Great Ball 2026-08-30 5 Dawn Potion 2026-07-15 6 Gary Ultra Ball 2026-01-02
Note: Excel may show the dates in another format, like 9/21/2026, depending on your settings. The results are the same.
Type Days Since in D1. Use TODAY to count the days since each order. Type the formula in D2 and fill it down to D6:
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trainer | Item | Order Date | Days Since |
| 2 | Ash | Poke Ball | 2026-09-21 | 7 |
| 3 | Misty | Super Potion | 2026-09-14 | 14 |
| 4 | Brock | Great Ball | 2026-08-30 | 29 |
| 5 | Dawn | Potion | 2026-07-15 | 75 |
| 6 | Gary | Ultra Ball | 2026-01-02 | 269 |
=TODAY()-C2
If today is 2026-09-28, Ash ordered 7 days ago, and Gary ordered 269 days ago.
To get exactly these results on any day, use a fixed date instead of TODAY():
=DATE(2026,9,28)-C2
The DATE function makes a date from a year, a month and a day.
Note: If the results look like dates, change the format of column D to General or Number. See Number Formats.
Days Until a Date
Subtract TODAY from a date in the future to count the days that are left.
Say the next Pokemon League starts on 2026-12-01. Type League Starts in F1 and the date in G1. Then type Days Left in F2, and this formula in G2:
| F | G | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | League Starts | 2026-12-01 |
| 2 | Days Left | 64 |
=G1-TODAY()
If today is 2026-09-28, there are 64 days left. The fixed-date formula gives the same result on any day:
=G1-DATE(2026,9,28)
Calculate an Age
To calculate an age in whole years, use TODAY together with the DATEDIF function.
This table has the birthdays of some trainers (example data). Copy it and paste it into cell A1 of a new sheet:
Example data
A B 1 Trainer Birthday 2 Ash 2016-05-22 3 Misty 2014-10-03 4 Brock 2011-09-28 5 Dawn 2012-09-29 6 Gary 2016-01-15
Type Age in C1. Type this formula in C2 and fill it down to C6:
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trainer | Birthday | Age |
| 2 | Ash | 2016-05-22 | 10 |
| 3 | Misty | 2014-10-03 | 11 |
| 4 | Brock | 2011-09-28 | 15 |
| 5 | Dawn | 2012-09-29 | 13 |
| 6 | Gary | 2016-01-15 | 10 |
=DATEDIF(B2, TODAY(), "Y")
"Y" tells DATEDIF to count complete years. If today is 2026-09-28, Brock turns 15 today. Dawn turns 14 tomorrow, so she is still 13.
The fixed-date formula gives the same ages on any day:
=DATEDIF(B2, DATE(2026,9,28), "Y")
Note: You may see (TODAY()-B2)/365 used to calculate ages. It is not exact, because some years have 366 days. For Dawn, it gives a little more than 14, even though her 14th birthday is tomorrow.
The NOW Function
The NOW function works like TODAY, but it returns the current date and time. It is typed =NOW().
The time is stored as the decimal part of the number. If it is 18:00 on 2026-09-28, NOW returns 46293.75, because 18:00 is 0.75 of a day. Excel shows it as a date and a time.
Like TODAY, NOW changes every time Excel recalculates. To calculate with times, see How to Find the Difference Between Two Times.
See Also
DATEDIF counts the years, months or days between two dates.
NETWORKDAYS counts the working days between two dates. For example, =NETWORKDAYS(TODAY(), C2) counts the working days from today until the date in C2.
To highlight dates like yesterday, today or next week, use the A Date Occurring rule in Conditional Formatting.
