Looker Studio Function : QUARTER
Category: DATE function
The QUARTER function in Looker Studio is a powerful time-based function used to extract the quarter of the year from a given date. This helps analysts and marketers break down data into quarterly segments for better time-based analysis and reporting.
Purpose of the QUARTER Function
1. Data Distribution Analysis :
The QUARTER function helps you group data by quarters (Q1–Q4), making it easier to visualize seasonal trends, compare growth, and identify performance spikes or drops over time.
2. Customer Segmentation :
Segmenting customers by the quarter of interaction or purchase date allows you to tailor marketing strategies, optimize retention campaigns, and target customers based on seasonal behaviors.
3. Decision Making :
By analyzing data quarterly, businesses can make smarter financial, operational, and marketing decisions, aligning strategies with real-time performance metrics for each fiscal quarter.
Type of Calculation & Practical Use Cases
✅ Performance Benchmarking
Compare quarterly performance against KPIs to identify trends and outliers.
✅ Customer Segmentation
Group users based on the quarter of activity for targeted marketing.
✅ Time Series Analysis
Break time series data into quarterly intervals for easier interpretation.
QUARTER(date_expression)
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
date_expression | Date | A valid date or datetime field |
How Does the QUARTER Function Work?
Use the QUARTER function when analyzing time-based data to uncover seasonal trends, report on quarterly performance, or segment customer activity by time. It is ideal for dashboards, reports, and forecast models.
Example of QUARTER with Result
QUARTER(DATE ‘2025-03-15’)
Result: 1 (since March is in Q1)
Example : 1 Basic Usage
You can use QUARTER(Order_Date) in calculated fields to group your sales or activity data into Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 automatically.
Example 2: Column Usage
Use the QUARTER function directly on date columns such as Transaction Date, Signup Date, or Purchase Date to build charts and tables based on quarterly segments.
Example 3: Handling Decimals and Scientific Notation
The QUARTER function is designed for date fields, so applying it to numeric or decimal values will result in an error. Always ensure input is a valid date.
Example 4: Combining with Other Functions
Tips and Tricks
Use with
YEAR()to create unique quarter-year combos.Filter charts by specific quarters using
QUARTER(Date) = 2.Helpful in seasonal trend forecasting and campaign planning.
The QUARTER function returns a number from 1 to 4, indicating the quarter of the year in which the given date falls—Q1 for Jan–Mar, Q2 for Apr–Jun, and so on.
Yes, the QUARTER function works with both DATE and DATETIME fields in Looker Studio, making it versatile for analyzing any date-based column in your data.
By default, QUARTER follows the calendar year. To align with a custom fiscal year, use CASE statements or calculated fields to manually define your own quarter ranges.
If a date field is null, the QUARTER function will return a null result. It’s recommended to use null handling or filtering to avoid errors in analysis.
se a formula like CONCAT("Q", QUARTER(Date)) to convert the numeric quarter value into a readable label format such as Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4 for better reporting.