---
title: "Use the STARTOFMONTH Function to Return Month Start Dates"
slug: "startofmonth-function"
description: "Learn to use the STARTOFMONTH function to return the first day of a month relative to a given date in Pigment."
updated: 2025-05-30T09:43:08Z
published: 2025-08-22T10:57:28Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.pigment.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# STARTOFMONTH function

## Description

Returns the first day of a month after or before a given date.

## Syntax

`STARTOFMONTH(Date [, Month Offset])`

## Arguments

| Argument | Type | Dimensions | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *Date* (required) | Date | Any Dimensions | Date to return the first day of. |
| *Month Offset* (required) | Integer | No Dimension or Dimensions of argument *Date* | Offset the given argument *Date* by a number of months. By default, the offset is equivalent to 0. |

## Returns

| Type | Dimensions |
| --- | --- |
| Date | Dimensions of argument *Date* |

## Examples

| Formula | Result | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `STARTOFMONTH(DATE(1986, 11, 28))` | November 1st 1986 | The first day of the month of November 28th 1986 is November 1st 1986. |
| `STARTOFMONTH(DATE(1989, 1, 18), 0)` | January 1st 1989 | The month offset is set to 0. The first day of the month of January 18th 1989 is January 1st 1989. |
| `STARTOFMONTH(DATE(1986, 1, 1), 1)` | February 1st 1986 | The month offset is set to 1. The first day of the next month of January 1st 1986 is February 1st 1986. |
| `STARTOFMONTH(DATE(1986, 1, 1), -10)` | March 31st 1985 | The month offset is set to -10. The previous 10 months of January 1st 1986 was in March 1985. The first day is March 1st 1985. |

## See also

Related articles: [EDATE](/v1/docs/edate-function), [MONTH](/v1/docs/month-function), [EOMONTH](/v1/docs/eomonth-function)

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> 
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