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FIND vs SEARCH: case sensitivity in Excel and Sheets
Excel & Google Sheets
=FIND("a",A2)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Text | Position of 'a' |
| alpha | 1 |
| Beta | |
| gamma | 2 |
| delta | 2 |
| apple | 1 |
=FIND("a",A2)→1
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Step by step
- 1Decide whether case matters: use FIND when the match must be exact (e.g., finding 'USD' not 'usd'), use SEARCH when case does not matter.
- 2Write =FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num]) or =SEARCH(find_text, within_text, [start_num]).
- 3Both return a number — the character position where the substring starts. Wrap in IFERROR to handle cases where the text is not found.
- 4Use the result with MID, LEFT, or RIGHT to extract surrounding text: =MID(A2, FIND("@",A2)+1, 100).
Tips
- SEARCH supports the * and ? wildcards; FIND does not — use SEARCH when you need pattern matching.
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Frequently asked
What does FIND return if the text is not found?
Both FIND and SEARCH return a #VALUE! error when the search string is not found. Wrap in IFERROR to return a fallback instead.
Is SEARCH available in Google Sheets?
Yes, both FIND and SEARCH work identically in Google Sheets.