Days function

Converts a specified date to a numeric value representing the number of days since January 1, 1970.

Converts a specified date to a decimal value, which can be used in formulas. The decimal value is the number of days since January 1, 1970.

Syntax

Days(date_expression [, from_format])

Parameters

date_expression

An expression that evaluates to a date to be converted to a numeric value. The expression must represent a date only and cannot include a time component. Note: This parameter accepts an expression, meaning you can provide a literal value, a column reference, or the result of another function. Required

Behavior

Converts the provided date to the number of days since January 1, 1970.
If from_format is specified, the function uses it to parse the input date string.
If the date_expression includes a time component, it must be ignored or truncated.

Return type

Number

Example

The following example calculates the project duration in days and multiplies it by the daily project cost.

=(Days(ProjectEnd)-Days(ProjectStart))*ProjectCostPerDay

Note: Only date values (without time) are supported. If from_format is omitted and the date_expression is a string, the system attempts to parse based on default locale settings.

Converting days to a UNIX time stamp

A UNIX time stamp is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970. This number can be useful if you want to do math with dates. You can convert the result from the Days function into a UNIX time stamp using the following formula:

=Days(date_expression)*24*60*60

This takes the out put from the Days function and multiplies it by the number of seconds in a day: 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds.

For example, you could convert the dates shown in the table below:

The formula for the Days Function column is: =Days(Date)

The formula for the UNIX Time Stamp column is: =(Days Function)*24*60*60