FIND function

Returns the position at which a string is first found within text, case-sensitive.

Sample usage

FIND("n",A2)

FIND("wood","How much wood can a woodchuck chuck",14)

Syntax

FIND(search_for, text_to_search, [starting_at])

• search_for – the string to look for within text_to_search.

• text_to_search – the text to be searched, for the first occurrence of search_for.
  • You can also refer to a range such as A:A or A5:A55.

• starting_at – [OPTIONAL – 1 by default] – the character within text_to_search at which to start the search.

Notes

• FIND is case-sensitive, meaning that uppercase and lowercase letters matter. For example, 'abc' will not match 'ABC'. To ignore case, use the SEARCH function.
• Ensure that search_for and text_to_search are not supplied in reverse order or the #VALUE! error will likely be returned. The arguments are supplied in a different order than other text functions such as SPLIT and SUBSTITUTE.
• It's recommended that you use a function such as IFERROR to check for cases in which there aren't matches to the search.
• If the pattern that you're searching for isn't found, #VALUE! is returned.

See also

SUBSTITUTE: Replaces existing text with new text in a string.

SPLIT: Divides text around a specified character or string and puts each fragment into a separate cell in the row.

SEARCH: Returns the position at which a string is first found within text, ignoring case.

IFERROR: Returns the first argument if it is not an error value; otherwise, it returns the second argument if present or a blank if the second argument is absent.

Examples