Excel FIND function
Description
The FIND function is used to find a string within another string, and returns the starting position of the string inside another one. Supposing, =FIND("ea","pear") returns 2 which means to find the starting position of "ea" in "pear".
Syntax and arguments
Formula syntax
| FIND(find_text,with_text,[start_num]) |
Arguments
|
Return Value
The FIND function returns the starting position of a string inside another one.
Remarks
1. The FIND function returns the starting position of the first instance of find_text in within_text.
2. The FIND function always returns the number of characters from the start of within_text.
3. If the find_text is empty, the FIND function returns the character numbered start_num, if start_num is omitted, returns 1.
4. The FIND function is case sensitive and does not support wildcards.
Errors
1. If the FIND function cannot find the find_text in the within_text, it returns #VALUE error.
2. If the start_num is not greater than zero, the FIND function returns #VALUE error.
3. If the start_num is longer that the within_text, the FIND function returns #VALUE error.
Usage and Examples
Example 1 Find start from first character in another string
=FIND(B3,C3,1) |
| Find_text | Within_text | Start_num | Result | Formula | Description |
| a | banana | 1 | 2 | =FIND(B3,C3,1) | Find position of ”a” form the first character of “banana” |
=FIND(B4,C4,1) |
| Find_text | Within_text | Start_num | Result | Formula | Description |
| na | banana | 1 | 3 | =FIND(B4,C4,1) | Find position of “na” form the first character of “banana” |
Example 2 Find start from nth character in another string
=FIND(B5,C5,3) |
| Find_text | Within_text | Start_num | Result | Formula | Description |
| a | banana | 3 | 4 | =FIND(B5,C5,3) | Find position of “a” from the third character of “banana” |
Example 3 Find string in case sensitive
=FIND(B6,C6,1) |
| Find_text | Within_text | Start_num | Result | Formula | Description |
| a | banana | 1 | 5 | =FIND(B6,C6,1) | Find position of “t” form the first character of “Ten tons” in case sensitive |
Download sample
Relative Functions:
Excel DOLLAR Function
The CHAR function is used to convert a number to text in the currency formatting, with the decimals rounded to the given number of decimal places.
Excel CLEAN Function
The CLEAN function is used to remove all non-printable characters from the given text.
Excel CODE Function
The CODE function returns a numeric code of a character or the first character in a given text string cell.
Excel CONCAT Function
The CONCAT function joins texts from multiple columns, rows or ranges together.
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