Date functions in IF Statement

Vince Stamey

Hi, I'm trying to get the previous month and previous year via a formula. Here is the formula I am  trying to use:

=IF(MONTH(TODAY()) = "2", MONTH(TODAY()) - 1 + "/" + YEAR(TODAY()) - 1, "false")

It works when I remove the -1 from the YEAR(TODAY()) - 1 part, but when I add the -1 back in I get #INVALID OPERATION. Any ideas? Thanks!

Vince Stamey

Same thing happens if I try it outside of an IF Statement:

=MONTH(TODAY()) - 1 + "/" + YEAR(TODAY()) -1

KPH

Can you add some parentheses around the year part?

=MONTH(TODAY()) - 1 + "/" + (YEAR(TODAY()) - 1)

I think the formula might be getting confused after the + to concatenate text and then going back to doing number math (that's my totally non-technical explanation).

Vince Stamey

HI, Thanks! That works outside of the IF statement, but when I put it back in the IF statement I get the #INVALID OPERATION error again with or without the parentheses.

=IF(MONTH(TODAY()) = "2", MONTH(TODAY()) - 1 + "/" + YEAR(TODAY()) - 1), "false")

=IF(MONTH(TODAY()) = "2", MONTH(TODAY()) - 1 + "/" + YEAR(TODAY()) - 1, "false")

KPH

Did you try:

=IF(MONTH(TODAY()) = "2", MONTH(TODAY()) - 1 + "/" + (YEAR(TODAY()) - 1), "false")

😉

Vince Stamey

Boom! That did it. Missing parentheses... Thanks much!

KPH

No problem!

Keep an eye on those parentheses - small but mighty (and best kept in pairs).