Excel VBA DateSerial Function

The DateSerial function in VBA returns a Date from a supplied year, month, and day number.

Syntax

DateSerial (Year, Month, Day)

Parameter

Year (required) – This parameter represents an integer signifying the year.

Month (required) – This parameter represents an integer signifying the month. If the Integer values are less than 1 or greater than 12, the values are interpreted as:

• -1 – November of the previous year
• 0 – November of previous year
• 13 – January of the following year
• 14 – February of the following year

Day (required) – This parameter represents an integer signifying the day of the month. If the integer values less are than 1 or greater than the number of days in the current month are interpreted as follows:

• -1 – It signifies the second to the last day of the previous month
• 0 – It signifies the last day of the previous month.
• Days in current month + 1 – It signifies the first day of the following month
• Days in current month + 2 – It signifies the second day of the following month.

Return

This function returns a Date from a supplied year, month, and day number.

Example 1

Sub DateSerialFunction_Example1()
 ' Two different ways to return the date "12/31/2015"
 Dim date_val1 As Date, date_val2 As Date
 date_val1 = DateSerial(2020, 6, 31)
 date_val2 = DateSerial(20, 6, 31)
 ' The variables date_val1 and date_val2 are equal to the Date 12/31/2015. 
 Cells(1, 1).Value = date_val1
 Cells(2, 1).Value = date_val2
 End Sub 

Output

7/1/2020

7/1/2020

Example 2

Sub DateSerialFunction_Example2()
 ' Demonstrating two different ways to return the date "12/31/2020"
 Dim date_val1 As Date, date_val2 As Date
 date_val1 = DateSerial(2020, 12, 31)
 date_val2 = DateSerial(2020, 13, 31)
 ' The variables date_val1 will return 12/31/2020
 ' The date_val2 are equal to the Date 1/31/2021. 
 Cells(1, 1).Value = date_val1
 Cells(2, 1).Value = date_val2
 End Sub 

Output

12/31/2020

1/31/2021

Example 3

Sub DateSerialFunction_Example3()
 ' Demonstrating two different ways to use Day Numbers That Are Less Than 1 Or Greater Than 31
 Dim date_val1 As Date, date_val2 As Date
 date_val1 = DateSerial(2020, 12, 1)
 date_val2 = DateSerial(2020, 12, 32)
 ' The variables date_val1 will return 12/1/2020 
 ' The date_val2 are equal to the Date 1/1/2021.
 Cells(1, 1).Value = date_val1
 Cells(2, 1).Value = date_val2
 End Sub 

Output

12/1/2020

1/1/2021