FIND function
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FIND
Returns the position of a string of text within another string.
Syntax:
FIND(findtext; texttosearch; startposition)
- returns the character position of the first occurrence of findtext within texttosearch.
- startposition (optional) is the position from which the search starts.
- The search is case-sensitive. For case-insensitive search, see SEARCH().
- The search will not use regular expressions. For searching with regular expressions, see SEARCH().
- A failed search gives the #VALUE! error.
- In Tools - Options - OpenOffice.org Calc - Calculate the setting for Search criteria = and <> must apply to whole cells has no effect.
Example:
FIND("yo"; "Yoyo")
- returns 3. The search is case-sensitive.
FIND("cho"; "choochoo"; 2)
- returns 5.
FIND("xyz","abcdef",1)
- returns #VALUE!.
- NOTE: This is an error condition, which must be 'handled' if used as the argument to another function.
- IF( FIND("xyz","abcdef",1) , "Substring Present", "ERR: Missing Substring" )
- returns #VALUE! which is not very useful, therefore we could use either ISERROR() or ISNUMBER() for example:
- IF( ISERROR( FIND("xyz","abcdef",1) ) , "ERR: Missing Substring", "Substring Present" ).
- returns "ERR: Missing Substring" (... allowing the IF() to function, and not propagating the error from the FIND() function.
- IF( ISNUMBER( FIND("xyz","abcdef",1) ) , "Substring Present", "ERR: Missing Substring" ).
- returns "ERR: Missing Substring" (... allowing the IF() to function, and not propagating the error from the FIND() function.
- NOTE: In practice, it may be more maintainable to use ISNUMBER() to avoid negative logic, and it is more indicative of the evaluation desired: if the substring has a position, then ISNUMBER() is TRUE, else ISNUMBER() is FALSE.
See Also
