Dates, text, and array snippets — Apps Script snippets

How to use these

Set up before you run

Copy a snippet into a script file, read its setup and notes, change the placeholder values, and save. For functions meant to run manually, choose the function name in the toolbar and press Run. Results appear in the Execution log unless the description says otherwise.

1

Format today's date

Formats the current date using the script's own time zone, so the result matches what the reader expects to see.

UtilitiesSession

Code.gs

function logTodaysFormattedDate() {
  const timeZone = Session.getScriptTimeZone();
  const formatted = Utilities.formatDate(new Date(), timeZone, 'yyyy-MM-dd');
  Logger.log('Today is ' + formatted);
}

2

Add days to a date

Creates a new date a set number of days after a starting date, without changing the original date.

Utilities

Code.gs

function addDaysToDate() {
  const startDate = new Date();
  const daysToAdd = 10;
  const laterDate = new Date(startDate.getTime());
  laterDate.setDate(laterDate.getDate() + daysToAdd);
  Logger.log('10 days from now: ' + laterDate);
}

3

Days between two dates

Counts the whole number of days between two dates, useful for measuring how overdue something is.

Utilities

Code.gs

function logDaysBetweenDates() {
  const startDate = new Date(2026, 0, 1);
  const endDate = new Date(2026, 2, 15);
  const millisecondsPerDay = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
  const daysBetween = Math.round((endDate.getTime() - startDate.getTime()) / millisecondsPerDay);
  Logger.log('Days between: ' + daysBetween);
}

4

Start of today and start of tomorrow

Zeroes out the time on a date to get midnight, then adds a day, a pattern used for "is this today" checks.

Utilities

Code.gs

function logStartOfTodayAndTomorrow() {
  const startOfToday = new Date();
  startOfToday.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0);
  const startOfTomorrow = new Date(startOfToday.getTime());
  startOfTomorrow.setDate(startOfTomorrow.getDate() + 1);
  Logger.log('Start of today: ' + startOfToday);
  Logger.log('Start of tomorrow: ' + startOfTomorrow);
}

5

Turn a cell value into a Date safely

Accepts either a real Date object or valid yyyy-MM-dd text, the two forms a Sheet cell can hand back, and returns a Date or null.

UtilitiesSession

Code.gs

/**
 * @param {unknown} value
 * @return {Date|null}
 */
function toSafeDate(value) {
  if (value instanceof Date && !isNaN(value.getTime())) return value;
  if (typeof value === 'string' && /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/.test(value)) {
    const [year, month, day] = value.split('-').map(Number);
    // setFullYear avoids Date's 1900 offset for years 0 through 99.
    const date = new Date(0);
    date.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0);
    date.setFullYear(year, month - 1, day);
    if (date.getFullYear() !== year || date.getMonth() !== month - 1 || date.getDate() !== day) return null;
    return date;
  }
  return null;
}

function logSafeDateResult() {
  const result = toSafeDate('2026-09-15');
  Logger.log(result ? Utilities.formatDate(result, Session.getScriptTimeZone(), 'yyyy-MM-dd') : 'Not a date');
}

Good to know. A Sheet cell formatted as a date arrives as a Date object already; only text cells need the yyyy-MM-dd parsing branch.

6

Format a number as currency

Rounds a number to two decimal places and adds thousands separators, without relying on locale-specific formatting.

Utilities

Code.gs

function formatAsCurrency() {
  const amount = 1234567.5;
  const rounded = amount.toFixed(2);
  const parts = rounded.split('.');
  parts[0] = parts[0].replace(/\B(?=(\d{3})+(?!\d))/g, ',');
  const formatted = '$' + parts.join('.');
  Logger.log(formatted);
}

7

Capitalize the first letter of each word

Splits text on spaces and capitalizes the first letter of every word, useful for cleaning up names typed in lowercase.

Utilities

Code.gs

function capitalizeEachWord() {
  const text = 'quarterly budget review notes';
  const capitalized = text
    .split(' ')
    .map((word) => word.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + word.slice(1))
    .join(' ');
  Logger.log(capitalized);
}

8

Remove duplicates from a list

Uses a Set to keep only the first copy of each value in a list, then converts it back to an array.

Utilities

Code.gs

function removeDuplicateValues() {
  const values = ['Apple', 'Banana', 'Apple', 'Cherry', 'Banana'];
  const uniqueValues = Array.from(new Set(values));
  Logger.log(uniqueValues.join(', '));
}

9

Group rows by a column value into an object

Walks a list of rows and collects them into an object keyed by one column, a common step before summarizing data.

Utilities

Code.gs

function groupRowsByStatus() {
  const rows = [
    ['Ana', 'Open'],
    ['Ben', 'Closed'],
    ['Cara', 'Open']
  ];
  /** @type {Record<string, string[]>} */
  const grouped = {};
  rows.forEach((row) => {
    const [name, status] = row;
    if (!grouped[status]) grouped[status] = [];
    grouped[status].push(name);
  });
  Logger.log(JSON.stringify(grouped));
}

10

Split a long list into chunks

Breaks a long array into smaller fixed-size arrays, useful for processing or emailing a list in batches.

Utilities

Code.gs

function splitListIntoChunks() {
  const items = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'];
  const chunkSize = 3;
  /** @type {string[][]} */
  const chunks = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < items.length; i += chunkSize) {
    chunks.push(items.slice(i, i + chunkSize));
  }
  Logger.log(JSON.stringify(chunks));
}

11

Generate a unique ID

Uses Utilities.getUuid to create a random unique identifier, useful for tagging a row so a later run can recognize it.

Utilities

Code.gs

function generateUniqueId() {
  const uniqueId = Utilities.getUuid();
  Logger.log('Generated ID: ' + uniqueId);
}

12

Pause briefly with Utilities.sleep

Waits for a set number of milliseconds before continuing, useful for spacing out calls to another service.

Utilities

Code.gs

function pauseBetweenApiCalls() {
  Logger.log('Starting first call.');
  Utilities.sleep(2000);
  Logger.log('Resuming after a 2 second pause.');
}

Good to know. Utilities.sleep pauses the whole script, and the wait counts against the runtime limit, so avoid calling it inside a loop that runs many times.

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