Sabrina Ayon
Sometimes, we may need to know the dates for the last day of the present, earlier, or any other month on a regular basis. We can easily get any day by using Excel functions. Microsoft Excel has some built-in options to get the days. In this article, we will demonstrate how to get the last day of the previous month in Excel.
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3 Different Methods to Get Last Day of Previous Month in Excel
To get the last day of the previous month, we are using the following dataset. In this dataset, there is a list of dates in column B and we have to find the last day of the previous month in column C. To acquire the last days of the previous month we are going to use the EOMONTH and DATE functions and also utilize an Excel VBA code. Let’s get into the methods to receive the last days of the previous month.
1. Excel EOMONTH Function to Find Last Day of Previous Month
To get the last day of the previous month, the EOMONTH function is the best option in Excel. Let’s have a basic understanding of the EOMONTH function first.
➧ Syntax:
The syntax for the EOMONTH function is:
EOMONTH(start_date, months)
➧ Arguments:
start_date: [required] The starting date is represented by this date.
months: [required] The number of months between the start date and end date.
Now, let’s have a look at the steps below.
STEPS:
- Firstly, select the cell where you want to get the last day of the previous month. So, we select cell C5.
- Secondly, type the following formula there.
=EOMONTH(B5,-1)
- Then, press the Enter key. And the formula will appear in the formula bar.
- You can see that, after entering the formula, it shows a 5 digit number instead of a date. It is because Excel by default uses the 1900 date system. As we want to go back to a date, that means we want a negative date or time value, that’s why it is automatically formatted as General.
- Now, to format the 5 digit number, select Short Date under the Number category on the Home tab.
- Drag the Fill Handle down to copy the formula over the range.
- And finally, the last day of the previous month for each date is calculated in the result.
Read More: How to Calculate First Day of Previous Month in Excel (2 Methods)
2. Detect the Last Day of Previous Month with Excel DATE Function
We can calculate years and months with the combination of DATE, YEAR & MONTH functions in Excel. The Excel DATE function generates a valid date from the year, month, and day components. The YEAR function in Excel returns a four-digit value as the year component of a date. And the MONTH function in Excel extracts the month as a number between 1 and 12 from a specified date. Here we are going to use the same dataset. Now, let’s follow the steps down.
STEPS:
- By the same token, first, choose the cell where you wish to get the last day of the previous month. So, we choose cell C5.
- Second, enter the formula into that cell.
=DATE(YEAR(B5),MONTH(B5),0)
- After that, hit the Enter key. In the formula bar, the formula will appear.
🔎 How Does the Formula Work?
⏩ YEAR(B5): This returns the year of the date in cell B5.
Output → 2022
⏩ MONTH(B5): This returns the month of the date in cell B5.
Output → 3
⏩ DATE(YEAR(B5), MONTH(B5),0): This returns the previous month’s last day of the specific date in cell B5.
Output → 28-02-2022
- Further, drag the Fill Handle down to duplicate the formula.
- And, this is it! You will get the last days of the previous month for each date in column C.
Read More: Last Business Day of the Month in Excel (9 Examples)
Similar Readings:
- How to Convert Date to Day of Week in Excel (8 Methods)
- Convert Date to Year in Excel (3 Quick Ways)
- How to Convert 7 Digit Julian Date to Calendar Date in Excel (3 Ways)
- Stop Excel from Auto Formatting Dates in CSV (3 Methods)
- How to Change Default Date Format from US to UK in Excel (3 Ways)
3. Excel VBA to Get Last Day of Previous Month in Excel
With Excel VBA we can obtain the last day of the previous month. Assume that, we have today’s date in cell B5, which is 21 March 2022. Now we want to get the last day of the previous month in a MsgBox. Let’s see the steps below to get the last day of the earlier month.
STEPS:
- First, go to the Developer tab on the ribbon.
- Second, click on Visual Basic or press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
- Another way to open the Visual Basic Editor is, simply right-click on the sheet and select View Code.
- This will open the Visual Basic Editor where you can write the code.
- Now, write down the VBA Code below.
VBA Code:
Sub Last_Day_of_Previous_Month()
Dim TodaysDate As Date
TodaysDate = Range("B5")
LastDay = DateSerial(Year(TodaysDate), Month(TodaysDate), 1) - 1
MsgBox LastDay
End Sub- Next, run the code by clicking the Run Sub button or pressing the F5 key.
- In the end, this will open a MsgBox and show the last day of the previous month.
Read More: Excel VBA: First Day of Month (3 Methods)
Conclusion
The above methods will assist you to find the last day of the previous month in Excel. Hope this will help you! If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback please let us know in the comment section. Or you can have a glance at our other articles in the ExcelDemy.com blog!
