FORMULA & SQL / DATES
Latest or earliest date in a column.
Tested, not guessed.
The Excel and Google Sheets formula and the SQL query, each run on the rows below. Open this with your own data ↗
The example rows
| Row | A: Region | B: Rep | C: Amount | D: Order Date | E: Status | F: Customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | North | Ana | 1,200 | 2026-03-01 | Paid | Jo Smith |
| 3 | South | Ben | 450 | 2026-03-15 | Open | Raj Patel |
| 4 | North | Cy | 300 | 2026-04-02 | Paid | Lee Wong |
| 5 | East | Ana | 980.50 | 2026-04-20 | Paid | Mia Ross |
| 6 | North | Ben | 75 | 2026-05-05 | Open | Jo Smith |
| 7 | West | Dee | 1,640 | 2026-05-18 | Paid | Sam Okoro |
The formula
Excel
=MAX(D2:D7)
The largest value in the Order Date column (D2:D7).
Format the cell as a date.
Run on the example rows:
Result46160
The SQL
PostgreSQL
SELECT MAX(order_date) AS latest_date FROM sales
Run on the example rows:
| latest_date |
|---|
| 2026-05-18 |
Other databases
MySQL
SELECT MAX(order_date) AS latest_date FROM sales
SQL Server
SELECT MAX(order_date) AS latest_date FROM sales
SQLite
SELECT MAX(order_date) AS latest_date FROM sales
BigQuery
SELECT MAX(order_date) AS latest_date FROM sales
Snowflake
SELECT MAX(order_date) AS latest_date FROM sales
Your own data
Paste your rows into the free tool and it writes this for your columns, then runs it on your data before you copy it. Open the tool ↗