DATE

The result you see here looks like the example itself. This is normal. This is the standard format the documentation uses to indicate that a value is a date. This is to distinguish that case from a text that contains a date, which would be "2019-02-04".

Differences with Excel’s DATE function:

• Numbers with decimals are not accepted
• Negative months and days are not allowed
• There are limits on the year, the year -230495 is valid

This function is rarely needed, as other ways of getting a date value are often more practical:

• use the @DATE_QUESTION to set the variable
• use a function that converts a text to a date: DATEVALUE(text_date)
• use a function that returns a date: TODAY() or DATEADD(a_date, 5, "days")

A text containing digits is not handled as a number. To have an actual number:

• use the @NUMBER_QUESTION to set the variable
• write a numeric value directly in the code without quotes, ex: age >= 18
• use a function which converts to a number: NUMBER(text_containing_numbers)
• use a function which returns a number: FIND("world", "hello everybody")