Which Excel function would you use to return today’s date?

The TODAY() function is specifically designed to return the current date in Excel. When you use this function, it provides the date that corresponds to the day the function is called, without any time components. This is particularly useful for date-related calculations or when you need to display the current date in a worksheet without needing to manually update it.

The TODAY() function does not require any arguments, making it very straightforward to use. You simply enter =TODAY() in a cell, and it will automatically display the current date. It also updates itself each time the worksheet is recalculated, ensuring that the date displayed is always the most recent.

In contrast, the other functions listed do not serve the specific purpose of returning just today's date. For instance, NOW() includes both the current date and time. CURRENT_DATE() is not an actual Excel function; instead, DATE() is a function used to create a date from individual year, month, and day values, but it does not automatically return today's date. Hence, TODAY() is the function that meets the requirement of returning just the current date.