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How to show first or last day of previous month based on given date in Excel?

Author: Sun Last Modified: 2024-10-22
A screenshot of dates in Excel used to show the first or last day of the previous month
Supposing here is a list of dates, and how can you quickly show the first or last days of previous month based on these given dates as below screenshot shown? Here I introduce some tricks to help you easily display the first day or last day of the previous month in Excel.

Show first day of previous month based on given dates
Show last day of previous month based on given dates

arrow blue right bubble Show first day of previous month based on given dates

To show the first day of previous month, here is a formula can quickly solve.

Select a blank cell next to the given date, for instance, B2, and enter this formula =EOMONTH(A2,-2)+1, A2 is the given date, and then drag auto fill handle over the cells which you need to apply this formula. See screenshot:
A screenshot of applying a formula to show the first day of the previous month in Excel

Now the first day of previous month based on each given dates has been displayed.

arrow blue right bubble Show last day of previous month based on given dates

To find the last day of previous month by given dates, you can apply one of below formulas to a blank cell and then apply the formula to the cells you want by dragging the auto fill handle. See screenshot:

=EOMONTH(A2,-1)

=DATE(YEAR(A2),MONTH(A2),0)
A screenshot of applying formulas to find the last day of the previous month in Excel

Note: the formula =EOMONTH(A2,-1) will return 5-digits number. For changing the 5-digits number to standard date, please select it and click Home > Number Format > Short Date.

Related Article:

How to easily enter dates without slashes in Excel?

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