YEAR pitfall 1: Returns a 4-digit number?

Returns a 4-digit number. On a date stored as TEXT (e.g. `"2026-05-07"`), Sheets usually coerces, but malformed strings return `#VALUE!`.

YEAR pitfall 2: Doesn't respect locale formatting: the value comes from the underlying date serial, not from the cell's display format?

Doesn't respect locale formatting: the value comes from the underlying date serial, not from the cell's display format.

Dateeasy

Returns the year component of a date as a four-digit number.

Syntax

=YEAR(date)

Arguments

Argument	Description
date	The date to query.

Example

=YEAR("2026-05-07")

Paste this into Google Sheets to run it. The live playground on this site covers 24 of the 61 functions, and YEAR isn't one of them yet.

Returns a 4-digit number. On a date stored as TEXT (e.g. "2026-05-07"), Sheets usually coerces, but malformed strings return #VALUE!.
Doesn't respect locale formatting: the value comes from the underlying date serial, not from the cell's display format.

Related formulas

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