This Excel function can find a string position within another string or cell reference. The function is case-sensitive and does not allow for wildcard characters. The function is often used in conjunction with other functions. It takes 3 arguments.
If Microsoft Excel can’t find the string, it will return a #VALUE! error.
| Argument | Description |
| Find_text | This is the text you wish to find. |
| Within_text | This is the text or cell reference you plan to search. |
| Start_num (Optional) | This indicates the position to search from. If blank, Excel will use position 1. |
In the examples below, I have cell A2 contents as Productivity Portfolio
| Syntax Example | What Happens |
| =FIND(“Portfolio”,A2) | Excel will scan cell A2 from position 1 for the string “Portfolio“. It will return the value of 14 since that is the position of the found string. |
| =FIND(“portfolio”,A2) | Excel will scan cell A2 from position 1 for the string “portfolio“. It will return a #VALUE! error since it didn’t find the string with the same case. |
| =FIND(” “,A2,6) | Excel will scan cell A2 for a blank space starting at position 6. It will return a value of 13 which represents the space between Productivity and Portfolio. |
