month

Month number or name of input date and time

Syntax

m = month(t)

m = month(t,monthType)

Description

m = month(t) returns the month for each date and time in the input array. By default, month returns the month number.

The output m is a double array containing integer values from 1 to 12. To assign month numbers to datetime array t, use t.Month and modify the Month property.

m = month(t,monthType) returns the type of month number or name of datetime array t, specified as either "monthofyear", "name", or "shortname".

Examples

Extract Month Number from Dates

Extract the month numbers from an array of dates.

t = datetime(2014,05,31):caldays(35):datetime(2014,10,15)

t = 1x4 datetime
   31-May-2014   05-Jul-2014   09-Aug-2014   13-Sep-2014

m = month(t)

m = 1×4

     5     7     8     9

Find Month Names of Dates

Get the month names from an array of dates.

t = datetime(2013,01,01):calweeks(12):datetime(2013,12,31)

t = 1x5 datetime
   01-Jan-2013   26-Mar-2013   18-Jun-2013   10-Sep-2013   03-Dec-2013

m = month(t,'name')

m = 1x5 cell
    {'January'}    {'March'}    {'June'}    {'September'}    {'December'}

Input Arguments

t — Input date and time

datetime array

Input date and time, specified as a datetime array.

To support existing code that previously required Financial Toolbox™, month also accepts serial date numbers and text as inputs, but they are not recommended. For more information, see Version History.

monthType — Type of month values

'monthofyear' (default) | 'name' | 'shortname'

Type of month values, specified as a value in the table.

Value of monthType	Description
'monthofyear'	Month-of-year number
'name'	Full month names, for example, August or September. For NaT datetime values, the month name is the empty character vector, ''.
'shortname'	Abbreviated month names, for example, Aug or Sep. For NaT datetime values, the month name is the empty character vector, ''.

Note

month returns month names in the language specified by the Locale option in the Datetime format section of the Preferences window. To change the default datetime locale, see Set Command Window Preferences.

This argument is valid only when t is a datetime array.

Output Arguments

m — Month number or name

double array | cell array of character vectors

Month number or name, returned as a numeric array of type double, or a cell array of character vectors. m is the same size as t.

Extended Capabilities

Tall Arrays

Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.

The month function fully supports tall arrays. For more information, see Tall Arrays.

Thread-Based Environment

Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.

Distributed Arrays

Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

This function fully supports distributed arrays. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced in R2014b

R2022a: Serial date number and text inputs not recommended

Although month supports serial date number and text inputs, datetime values are recommended instead. The datetime data type provides flexible date and time formats, storage out to nanosecond precision, and properties to account for time zones and daylight saving time.

To convert serial date numbers or text to datetime values, use the datetime function. For example:

t = datetime(738427.656845093,"ConvertFrom","datenum");
m = month(t)

m =

     9

There are no plans to remove support for serial date number or text inputs.

R2022a: month functions from Financial Toolbox and MATLAB combined

In previous releases, there were two month functions: one in MATLAB^® that accepted datetime values, and one in Financial Toolbox that accepted serial date numbers or text values. As of R2022a, you can call month without Financial Toolbox. When you call month from MATLAB, it accepts all previous input types.

For example, you can make these calls with a serial date number and text from MATLAB:

m = month(738427.656845093)

m =

     9

m = month("28-Sep-2021")

m =

     9

In addition, month accepts a second input for the date format when the first input is not a datetime array:

m = month(t,F)

In this syntax, specify F using a valid date format as documented for the datestr function, though 'Q' format specifiers are not supported. For example:

m = month("2021/28/09","yyyy/dd/mm")

m =

     9