SEARCH

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

Sample usage

SEARCH("n",A2)

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

Syntax

SEARCH(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.

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

Notes

• SEARCH is not case-sensitive, meaning that uppercase and lowercase letters do not matter. For example, 'abc' will match 'ABC'. To compare text where case matters, use the FIND 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 to use a function such as IFERROR to check for cases when there aren't matches to the search.

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.

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

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