Excel SEARCH function returns an integer that represents the position of a specified character or substring within a text. In this guide, we’re going to show you how to use the Excel SEARCH function and also go over some tips and error handling methods.
Supported versions
- All Excel versions
SEARCH Syntax
SEARCH(find_text, within_text, start_num)
Arguments
find_text | The character or the substring you want to find. |
within_text | The text that contains the character or substring you want to find. |
start_num | Optional. The position of the character that you want to start to look. If it is omitted, the function starts to look from the first character. |
Examples
Example 1
=FIND("a","Charizard")
Example 2
=SEARCH("a","Charizard",4)
Example 3
=SEARCH("z?rd","Charizard")
Example 4
=SEARCH("Z","Charizard")
Tips
- The SEARCH function is not case-sensitive and supports wildcard characters.
- Use the asterisk (*) character to represent any sequence of characters.
- Use the question mark (?) character to represent any single character.
- Use the tilde (~) character before an * or a ? to search exactly for these characters.
- Use the FIND function for case sensitive searches without wildcard support.
- You can combine the SEARCH function with LEFT, MID, and RIGHT functions to locate and parse substrings.
Issues
#VALUE!
You will see a #VALUE! error if find_text is not found in within_text.