Tableau Date Functions

Tableau provides various Date Functions such as Year, Month, Day, makedate, maketime, datediff, datepart, dateadd, datename, datetrunc, now, today, etc. In this article, we will show you how to use Tableau Date Functions with examples.

To demonstrate these Tableau Date functions, we will use the data shown below. As you can see, there are 15 records in this table.

Tableau Date Functions 1

Tableau Date Functions

The following set of examples will show you the list of Tableau Date Functions

Year

The Tableau YEAR function is used to return Year from the given date and the syntax of this YEAR:

YEAR(Date)

To demonstrate the date functions in Tableau, we have to use Calculated Fields. To create a calculated field, navigate to the Analysis Tab and select the Create Calculated Field… option.

Tableau Date Year Functions 2

Once you click on the Create Calculated Field, the following window will open. Here, we renamed the default calculation name as Year.

As you can see from the screenshot below, while I was typing, the calculation window showed the suggestions. For more functions >> Click Here.

Tableau Year Function 3

For the Tableau Date Functions demo purpose, we will return the Years from HireDate.

YEAR([HireDate])
Tableau Year Function 4

Let me add this calculated field to the table (by dragging a field to Rows Shelf) that we created earlier. Please refer to the Create Table Report and Formatting articles to understand the steps involved in creating a table.

Tableau Date Year Function 5

Because it is a measure, sometimes it may not show properly. If this is the case, click on the Year and change it from Measure to Dimension. Next, change the values from Continuous to Discrete.

Tableau Date Year Functions 6

Tableau MONTH function

The Tableau Month function is used to return the Month number from a given date, and the syntax of this Month is

MONTH(Date)

Let me create a calculated field to return the Month number from Hiredate

MONTH([HireDate])
Tableau Month Function 7

Let me add this Month Number field to the Rows shelf

Tableau Date Month Function 8

DAY

The Tableau DAY function is used to extract or return the Day number from a given date, and the syntax of this DAY is:

DAY(Date)

Let me create a Day field to return the Day number from HireDate

DAY([HireDate])
Tableau Day Function 9

Next, we added the day field to the Row Shelf

Tableau Day Date Function 10

Tableau Date NOW Function

The Tableau NOW function is used to return today’s date and time, and the syntax of this NOW is:

NOW()

Let me create one calculated field for the NOW function to return today’s date and time

NOW()
Tableau Date Now Function 11

From the below screenshot, you can see today’s date and time

Tableau Now 12

Tableau Today Date Function

The Tableau Today function is used to return today’s date, and the syntax of this Today is:

TODAY()

Let’s create a field to return today’s date

Tableau Today Date Function 13

From the following screenshot, you can see today’s date

Tableau Today Function 14

MakeDate Function

The Tableau MakeDate function is used to return date from the year, month, and day and the syntax of this MakeDate is:

MAKEDATE(year, month, day)

Let’s create another calculated field to return the date from the specified year, month, and day. As you can see, we used Year(), MONTH(), and DAY() functions to extract the corresponding values.

MAKEDATE(YEAR([HireDate]), MONTH([HireDate]), DAY([HireDate]))
MakeDate 15

You can see the MakeDate result

Tableau MakeDate Function 16

MakeTime Function

The Tableau MakeTime date function is used to return time from an hour, minute, and second, and the syntax of this MakeTime is:

MAKETIME(hour, minute, second)

Let me create a calculated field to return time from hours, minutes, and seconds. As you can see, we are giving static values. However, you can use Datepart to extract hours, minutes, and seconds from date and time.

MAKETIME(14, 22, 59)
Tableau MakeTime Function 17

Now, you can see the MakeTime Function result. Remember, 30 Dec, 99 is the default date generated.

Tableau MakeTime Function 18

Tableau MakeDateTime Function

The Tableau MakeDateTime function is used to return date and time from Date, Time, and the syntax of this MakeDateTime is:

MAKEDATETIME(Date, Time)

As you can see, we are using the previously created calculated fields as arguments. MakeDt will return Date from HireDate, and MakeTime will return a static time value.

MAKEDATETIME([MakeDt], [MakeTime])
Tableau MakeDtTime Function 19

Let me add this MakeDateTime field to the table.

MakeDtTime 20

ISDATE Function

The Tableau IsDate function is used to check whether the given string is a date or not. It returns either True or False. The syntax of this IsDate is:

ISDATE(string)

Let me use this one on the string Hire Date column. As you can see, this is a string column

ISDATE([StringHireDate])
Tableau IsDate Function 21

You can see the result of this IsDate function

IsDate 22

Tableau DATEDIFF Function

The Tableau DATEDIFF function returns the date difference between the start and the end date. Use the first argument to specify the difference term.

This datediff function accepts YEAR, MONTH, DAY, etc. For example, if you select YEAR, the DateDiff will return the number of years between a start date and the end date.

The syntax of this DATEDIFF is:

DATEDIFF(Difference_term, Start_Date, End_Date)

Let me check the difference between HireDate and Today in years using datediff.

DATEDIFF('year', [HireDate], NOW())
DtDiff Function 23

From the screenshot below, you can see the total number of years between HireDate and Today

Tableau DateDiff Function 24

Let me change the difference term to MONTH in datediff, and click the Apply button. Now you can see the difference between those dates in Months

Tableau DateDiff Function 25

Tableau DATEADD Function

The Tableau DATEADD function is used to add user-specified intervals to an actual date. Use the first argument to define the date part term and the second arg to specify the interval.

This DATEADD function accepts YEAR, MONTH, DAY, etc. For example, if you select Month as the first argument and interval as 6, then the Dateadd will add six months to the existing date.

The syntax of the DATEADD is:

DATEADD(Date_part, interval, Date)

The below statement will add 5 years to HireDate.

DATEADD('year', 5, [HireDate])
Tableau Dateadd 26

This time, we will use the month as the date part in the DATEADD. The statement below adds 6 months to HireDate.

DATEADD('month', 6, [HireDate])
Tableau Dateadd Function 27

Tableau DATEPART Function

The Tableau DATEPART function is used to extract or return part of a date. Use the first arg to specify the date part.

This DatePart function accepts YEAR, MONTH, DAY, etc. For example, if you select Month as the date part, then the DatePart function will return a year from a given date.

The syntax of this DATEPART is:

DATEPART(Date_part, Date)

The following statement will extract the day number from HireDate.

DATEPART('day', [HireDate])
Tableau Datepart Function 28

This time, we will use Hour as the datepart. The Below statement will return Hour from HireDate

DATEPART('hour', [HireDate])
Datepart Function 29

Tableau DATENAME Function

The Tableau DATENAME function is used to return the date part name. Use the first argument to specify the date part, which accepts YEAR, MONTH, and DAY.

The syntax of the DATENAME is:

DATENAME(Date_part, Date)

The statement below will return the month name from HireDate.

DATENAME('month', [HireDate])
DateName 30

This time we will use weekday as the date part in DateName. The below statement will return the weekday name from HireDate

DATENAME('weekday', [HireDate])
DateName Function 31

Tableau DATETRUNC Function

The Tableau DATETRUNC is one of the data functions. It is used to return the first day of the specified date part. Use the first argument to specify the date part, and this datetrunc accepts YEAR, MONTH, DAY, etc.

The syntax of the DATETRUNC is:

DATETRUNC(Date_part, Date)

The statement below will return the month’s starting date from HireDate.

DATETRUNC('month', [HireDate])
Tableau DateName 32

This time we will use a quarter as the date part in DATETRUNC. The below statement will return the first day of the quarter that the date belongs to

DATETRUNC('quarter', [HireDate])
Tableau DateName Function 33