FIND

Also applies to:

FINDB

FIND finds one text string (find_text) within another text string (within_text), and returns the number of the starting position of find_text, from the first character of within_text. You can also use SEARCH to find one text string within another, but unlike SEARCH, FIND is case sensitive and doesn't allow wildcard characters.

FINDB finds one text string (find_text) within another text string (within_text), and returns the number of the starting position of find_text, based on the number of bytes each character uses, from the first character of within_text. This function is for use with double-byte characters. You can also use SEARCHB to find one text string within another.

Syntax

FIND(find_text,within_text,start_num)

FINDB(find_text,within_text,start_num)

Find_text is the text you want to find.

Within_text is the text containing the text you want to find.

Start_num specifies the character at which to start the search. The first character in within_text is character number 1. If you omit start_num, it is assumed to be 1.

Show Tip

Use start_num to skip a specified number of characters. For example, suppose you are working with the text string "AYF0093.YoungMensApparel". To find the number of the first "Y" in the descriptive part of the text string, set start_num equal to 8 so that the serial-number portion of the text is not searched. FIND begins with character 8, finds find_text at the next character, and returns the number 9. FIND always returns the number of characters from the start of within_text, counting the characters you skip if start_num is greater than 1.

Remarks

If find_text is "" (empty text), FIND matches the first character in the search string (that is, the character numbered start_num or 1).
Find_text cannot contain any wildcard characters.
If find_text does not appear in within_text, FIND and FINDB return the #VALUE! error value.
If start_num is not greater than zero, FIND and FINDB return the #VALUE! error value.
If start_num is greater than the length of within_text, FIND and FINDB return the #VALUE! error value.

Example 1 (FIND)

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Show How?

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.

1

2

A
Data
Miriam McGovern
Formula	Description (Result)
=FIND("M",A2)	Position of the first "M" in the string above (1)
=FIND("m",A2)	Position of the first "m" in the string above (6)
=FIND("M",A2,3)	Position of the first "M" in the string above, starting with the third character (8)

Example 2 (FIND)

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Show How?

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.

1

2
3
4

A
Data
Ceramic Insulators #124-TD45-87
Copper Coils #12-671-6772
Variable Resistors #116010
Formula	Description (Result)
=MID(A2,1,FIND(" #",A2,1)-1)	Extracts text from position 1 to the position of "#" in the first string above (Ceramic Insulators)
=MID(A3,1,FIND(" #",A3,1)-1)	Extracts text from position 1 to the position of "#" in the second string above (Copper Coils)
=MID(A4,1,FIND(" #",A4,1)-1)	Extracts text from position 1 to the position of "#" in the third string above (Variable Resistors)

Example (FINDB)

In the following examples, FIND returns 2 because "" is in the second position within the string, and FINDB returns 3 because each character is counted by its bytes; the first character has 2 bytes, so the second character begins at byte 3.

=FIND("","") equals 2

=FINDB("","") equals 3