Return earliest date in a range
This tutorial shows how to get the earliest date in a range using Excel formulas, with the MIN and SMALL functions
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=MIN(B5:B9)
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GENERIC FORMULA
=MIN(range)
ARGUMENTS EXPLANATION This formula uses the MIN function which returns the smallest number from the selected range to find the earliest date. When a date is formatted as a number the earliest date will have the lowest value, therefore, the MIN function is appropriate to use for this example.
In this example the cell B7, with a date of 15 August 2019, contains the earliest date from the selected range (B5:B9). |
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=SMALL(B5:B9,1)
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GENERIC FORMULA
=SMALL(range,1)
ARGUMENTS EXPLANATION This formula uses the SMALL function, with the nth smallest value set to 1, which will return the smallest number from the selected range to find the earliest date. When a date is formatted as a number the earliest date will have the lowest value, therefore, the SMALL function is appropriate to use for this example.
In this example the cell B7, with a date of 15 August 2019, contains the earliest date from the selected range (B5:B9). |
RELATED TOPICS
| Related Topic | Description | Related Topic and Description |
|---|---|---|
| Return smallest number with criteria | How to get the smallest number from a list with a specific criteria | |
| Return latest date in a range | How to get the latest date in a range |
RELATED FUNCTIONS
| Related Functions | Description | Related Functions and Description |
|---|---|---|
| SMALL Function | The Excel SMALL function returns the numeric value from a specified range based on the nth smallest position | |
| MIN Function | The Excel MIN function returns the smallest value from a specified range of numeric values |