Excel FIND Function

What is the Excel FIND Function?

The excel FIND function is looking for a text in another text. The FIND function has NO OPTION for wild card usage and does a case sensitive search.

FIND Syntax

FIND(find_text,within_text,[start_num])

find_text, required, text that you want to find.

within_text, required, text in which you want to find the find_text.

start_num, optional, starting position to find the find_text, the default is 1.

How to Use FIND Function in Excel

The following are examples of the FIND function usage and the results.

FIND Function #1

=FIND(A2,B2)

You can ignore the start_num argument, by default it will be 1. The result is 6, the position of “soft” text in the “Microsoft Excel” text.

FIND Function #2

=FIND(A3,B3,C3)

Why is the result not the same as FIND Function #1? Isn’t the “SOFT” text in the “Microsoft Excel” text?

The FIND function looking for in case sensitive way, in the “Microsoft Excel” text there is a “soft” text instead of a “SOFT” text.

FIND Function #3

=FIND(A4,B4,C4)

The result is #VALUE! error, because excel FIND function has no option for the wildcard. To search using wildcard option use the excel SEARCH function.

FIND Function #4

=FIND(A5,B5,C5)

Why is the result 14? Isn’t there “E” letter at position 11?

The FIND function searches in a case sensitive manner, so the “E” and “e” letter are two different things.

FIND Function #5

=FIND(A6,B6,C6)

The FIND function returns a #VALUE! error if the start_num argument contains a zero or a negative number.

FIND Function #6

=FIND(A7,B7,C7)

The result is #VALUE! error. No number greater than the length of the text. Use excel LEN function to determine how long is the text,

FIND Example

Another Text Function