How do I get yesterday's date in PowerShell?

Use (Get-Date).AddDays(-1). For yesterday at midnight, use [datetime]::Today.AddDays(-1), since DateTime.Today sets the time to 00:00:00.

How do I get yesterday's date in yyyy-MM-dd format?

Use (Get-Date).AddDays(-1).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'). Get-Date -Format also works, but it returns a string, as the Get-Date documentation notes, so do the date math first.

How do I subtract days from a date in PowerShell?

Pass a negative number to AddDays, like (Get-Date).AddDays(-7) for one week ago, or subtract a TimeSpan: (Get-Date) - (New-TimeSpan -Days 7).

How do I add days to a date in PowerShell?

Use AddDays: (Get-Date).AddDays(30). For a date in a variable, assign the result back: $date = $date.AddDays(30).

How do I add months to a date in PowerShell?

Use AddMonths: (Get-Date).AddMonths(3). If the day doesn't exist in the new month, you get the last day of that month.

Get Yesterday's Date in PowerShell (AddDays, Subtract Days)

To get yesterday’s date in PowerShell, subtract one day from today with (Get-Date).AddDays(-1). The same AddDays() method adds days to any date, and a negative number goes back in time:

$today = [datetime]'2026-10-23 08:15'

"Yesterday:        $($today.AddDays(-1).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'))"
"In 30 days:       $($today.AddDays(30).ToString('MMM d, yyyy'))"
"One week earlier: $($today.AddDays(-7).ToString('MMM d, yyyy'))"

Output:

Yesterday:        2026-10-22
In 30 days:       Nov 22, 2026
One week earlier: Oct 16, 2026

I pinned the examples to fixed 2026 dates so your output matches mine. In a real script, start from Get-Date instead, and the results follow the clock.

Get yesterday’s date with (Get-Date).AddDays(-1)

These three lines are the ones you’ll use most. Run them in any console and you’ll see dates one day back from right now:

(Get-Date).AddDays(-1)          # yesterday, same time of day as now
(Get-Date).Date.AddDays(-1)     # yesterday at 12:00 AM
[datetime]::Today.AddDays(-1)   # same as the line above

The first line keeps the current time, so at 3:40 PM it returns yesterday at 3:40 PM. The other two return yesterday at midnight, which is what you want as the start of a search window.

Here’s the same idea on a fixed date, with the day name added:

$now = [datetime]'2026-10-23 14:35:10'

"AddDays(-1):     $($now.AddDays(-1))"
"Midnight start:  $($now.Date.AddDays(-1))"
"Formatted:       $($now.AddDays(-1).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'))"
"Day of the week: $($now.AddDays(-1).DayOfWeek)"

Output:

AddDays(-1):     10/22/2026 14:35:10
Midnight start:  10/22/2026 00:00:00
Formatted:       2026-10-22
Day of the week: Thursday

Get yesterday's date in PowerShell with AddDays(-1) and .Date — Yesterday with the time kept, at midnight, as text and as a weekday (Windows PowerShell 5.1)

A date in a string like "$(...)" always prints month/day/year with a 24-hour clock, whatever your regional settings are. Call ToString() with a format when you need a specific layout.

Is [datetime]::Today the same as (Get-Date).Date?

Yes. Both give today’s date with the time set to 00:00:00 on your local clock, so subtracting a day from either gives yesterday at midnight:

"[datetime]::Today equals (Get-Date).Date: $([datetime]::Today -eq (Get-Date).Date)"
"Time of day on [datetime]::Today:        $([datetime]::Today.TimeOfDay)"
"Time of day on yesterday at midnight:    $([datetime]::Today.AddDays(-1).TimeOfDay)"

Output:

[datetime]::Today equals (Get-Date).Date: True
Time of day on [datetime]::Today:        00:00:00
Time of day on yesterday at midnight:    00:00:00

That exact midnight matters when you start comparing dates in PowerShell, because 12:00 AM and 12:00:00.250 AM aren’t equal.

What (Get-Date).AddDays(0) does

AddDays(0) returns the same date and time, not today at midnight. Use .Date for that:

$now = [datetime]'2026-10-23 14:35:10'

"AddDays(0): $($now.AddDays(0))"
".Date:      $($now.Date)"

Output:

AddDays(0): 10/23/2026 14:35:10
.Date:      10/23/2026 00:00:00

Get today at midnight the reliable way

Setting the hour, minute and second with Get-Date looks like midnight, but the milliseconds stay behind, so equality checks fail:

$today = Get-Date -Hour 0 -Minute 0 -Second 0
"Get-Date -Hour 0 -Minute 0 -Second 0 leaves milliseconds: $($today.Millisecond -ne 0 -or $today.Ticks % 10000 -ne 0)"
"(Get-Date).Date is exactly midnight: $((Get-Date).Date.TimeOfDay -eq [timespan]::Zero)"

Output:

Get-Date -Hour 0 -Minute 0 -Second 0 leaves milliseconds: True
(Get-Date).Date is exactly midnight: True

(Get-Date).Date and [datetime]::Today clear the whole time part, milliseconds included.

How do I format yesterday’s date as text?

Most scripts need yesterday as a string for a file name, a report title or a log search. You have four tools, and one of them behaves differently in Windows PowerShell 5.1:

$yesterday = ([datetime]'2026-10-23 08:15').AddDays(-1)

"ToString:    $($yesterday.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'))"
"-Format:     $(Get-Date -Date $yesterday -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd')"
"FileDate:    $(Get-Date -Date $yesterday -Format FileDate)"
"-UFormat %F: $(Get-Date -Date $yesterday -UFormat '%F')"
"Long date:   $($yesterday.ToString('dddd, MMMM d, yyyy'))"
"File name:   sales-$($yesterday.ToString('yyyyMMdd')).csv"

Output:

ToString:    2026-10-22
-Format:     2026-10-22
FileDate:    20261022
-UFormat %F: 2026-10-22
Long date:   Thursday, October 22, 2026
File name:   sales-20261022.csv

Format yesterday's date in PowerShell 7 with ToString, -Format and -UFormat — Every format works in PowerShell 7, including -UFormat %F (PowerShell 7)

Run the same script in Windows PowerShell 5.1 and the %F line prints just the letter F: