I have two columns with dates and I want to compare the two and move the oldest date between the 2 to a new column, can someone recommend a solutions for this? Example: Date 1 Date 2New Date Column4/14/20254/14/20234/14/20234/14/20254/14/20234/14/20238/23/20248/23/20228/23/202212/20/20236/20/20236/20/20236/27/20246/27/20226/27/202211/30/202311/15/202111/15/20211/18/20251/11/20231/11/20231/11/20251/11/20231/11/20236/15/20256/15/20236/15/2023

Comparing Dates and Keeping the Oldest

I have two columns with dates and I want to compare the two and move the oldest date between the 2 to a new column, can someone recommend a solutions for this? Example:

Date 1	Date 2	New Date Column
4/14/2025	4/14/2023	4/14/2023
4/14/2025	4/14/2023	4/14/2023
8/23/2024	8/23/2022	8/23/2022
12/20/2023	6/20/2023	6/20/2023
6/27/2024	6/27/2022	6/27/2022
11/30/2023	11/15/2021	11/15/2021
1/18/2025	1/11/2023	1/11/2023
1/11/2025	1/11/2023	1/11/2023
6/15/2025	6/15/2023	6/15/2023

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alexnajm

Done!

Comparing Dates and Keeping the Oldest.yxmd

BS_THE_ANALYST

@ytorjim8 You need to convert your Date columns to the Date datatype. This will allow alteryx to determine which one is 'Older':

Afterwards, we need an if statement!

DateSelection.yxmd

JamesCharnley

Hi @ytorjim8

The first thing you'll need to do is convert the string dates to dates, and then just create some formula to check if one date is older than the other, and move it into a new column.

TakeOldestDate.yxmd

BS_THE_ANALYST

@JamesCharnley I was conflicted what to do when two dates are on the same day. I see you've decided to have them as null(). Inevitably they will probably want the identical date to be put in that cell 🤔

JamesCharnley

@BS_THE_ANALYST a fair point that I hadn't considered but makes sense. You can just edit the else to take either of the dates because that's the only time it's relevant. Nice catch though.

ytorjim8

Super helpful thank you! If they are the same date I would like just to pull that date in, or if there is a null value in one of the columns I'd want to default to the only value available.

alexnajm

My original solution accomplishes this!

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