Comments on: Excel FIND and SEARCH functions with formula examples

The tutorial explains the syntax of the Excel FIND and SEARCH functions and provides formula examples of advanced non-trivial uses. Continue reading →

Comments page 8. Total comments: 446

  1. Mukesh:
    Why not use the Text-to-Columns tool and set the 32 GB into its own column?

  2. Hi

    My Name is Mukesh Singh
    Sir I have a query

    Apple iPhone 6 32 GB Gold

    I want "32 GB" in a separate cell using formula

    Please help me to solve

  3. Hi there,
    I'm trying to fill in some missing data in my excel sheet. The method I am using is substitution where I have 6 columns. For example:
    (Day) (Hour) (Wind direction) (wind speed) (stability) (rain in inches)
    If I am missing the wind direction and wind speed I will look 2 weeks prior or after the missing data point for the same hour and stability and substitute those values in for the missing values. I used vlookup before and it would substitute from the top of the column or bottom but never the values closest from the missing data. My question is, is there a better method than the vlookup, would the find or search functions work? Or is there a method for vlookup to start from the missing data point and work away rather than starting from the top or bottom of the 2 week gap?

  4. In my target string, the substring i want to extract is of the form Mxx - the letter M followed by a two digit number. THe target string will only have one occurrence of such a substring. The position of it though, is not fixed. For example:
    F_8_M01_MASTER_MARKS_V15 - I am looking for M01.
    F_8_M17_PTLY_XTV_V6 - I want to extract M17.
    KB1F_MESURE_M34_FIN_V01.2 - I want to extract M34
    How can I do that?

    1. DesperatelyNeedHelp:
      Here's a formula that will search a string and return the value you enter into a cell.
      You can do it two ways I'll show you both and you can decide which one works best for you.
      OK, you can enter the search value directly into the formula like this;
      Where F_8_M17_PTLY_XTV_V6 is in B13 enter this formula into an empty cell.
      =IF(B13="","",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("M17",B13)),"M17"))
      Alternatively you can enter the search value into a cell and reference that cell in the formula like this:
      =IF(B13="","",IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(D2,B13)),D2))
      Where F_8_M17_PTLY_XTV_V6 is in B13 and you enter M17 into D2 this will return M17 into the cell where this formula is.

  5. i want to find a text 'P' in a string which is then followed by 3 numbers. The 3 numbers can be anything.

    1. If I understand your question this formula should work.
      Where "P123" is in A44 enter this in an empty cell:
      =MID(A44,FIND("P",A44),1)

  6. col A contains some set of strings, Col B contains some Sub-strings , and the corresponding coloumn C should return values of string which contains the particular substring.
    what formula can be used to pull out the string which contains this particular sub-string

    Col A Col B col C
    ABCD-alpha rain rainrain-rhyme
    1234-num abc ABCD-alpha
    rainrain-rhyme numb 1234-num

    1. Lavanya:
      Here's a formula that works if there are no duplicates,
      =IFERROR(INDEX($A$1:$A$5,MATCH(TRUE,INDEX(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(B1,$A$1:$A$5)),,),0)),"No Match")
      Just copy this down the C column and it will return the string from the A column that contains the sub-string found in the B column.
      You can expand the $A$1:$A$5 range. The B1 will change as you copy it down the C column.
      FYI, the "numb" in your sample will return the "No Match".

  7. Absolutely the best post that I found on this subject!
    This is comprehensive and detailled, yet very clear and easy to understand. The choice of examples just adds to that.
    Thank you very much, this post was truly helpful.

    Kindest regards
    Pieter

  8. Hi,

    I have a problem in excel for find and pest,

    The problem is "in a excel one page i have some numbers(123456), same page same number included in some words(abcd123456), so i can find out based on any formula please let me know, i am waiting.

  9. Hello,

    I am trying to figure out how to do the following:
    Count the number of cells which have the character + within the word.
    Each of over 60 columns will have a different word.

    E.g. BOB+CAT, DOG+BIRD, CAN+, etc.

    1. Count Number of Cells That Contain Specific Character

      =COUNTIF(A23:A29,"*+*")

      Where A23:A29 is the range of cells you want to count the number of times the “+” character is in the text.

  10. hello madam..
    good morning..
    we want some help from you..
    we just want to confirm why we use find and replace formula...
    we use find and replace formula from home menu or by pressing(ctrl+f)..

  11. Hi,

    To get around the #VALUE problem, you can use the ISERROR() function. For example, if you have a cell, A1, and you want to check the position of the letter p, you can use:

    =IF(ISERROR(FIND("p",A1)),0,FIND("p",A1))

    If the letter p is present, this will report the position. If not, it will report 0.
    The first section, ISERROR(FIND("p",A1)), determines if p is present. If not, the IF returns 0. If there is no error, the IF then looks again for p and reports its actual position.

  12. i have several file names extracted to excel with the "009-?-????" string as part of the filename. i need to extract this string from the remaining file name. the question marks are wild card.

  13. Hi,

    I require to find out the number of spaces before any text in a cell from starting. For Example:
    " A56020 - Depr - buildings"
    We have to find out the length of blanks before any first text. Here blanks are 20 before first text (here first text is A, it is different in different cells).

    Any help is of great help.

    Thanks,
    DG

  14. What if...

    A1 UK-USA and B1 1-0
    A2 USA-UK B2 0-1
    A3 USA-UK B3 4-3
    A4 UK-USA B4 2-1
    A5 UK-USA etc.
    A6 USA-UK
    etc.
    How to return with a function ALL UK results in left-right order in C1... like
    C1 is 1-0
    C2 is 1-0
    C3 is 3-4
    C4 is 2-1
    etc.

    Thanks...

  15. Svetlana, I can't thank you enough for sharing this knowledge with us!
    These functions are super useful when used appropriately, and you've given an excellent explanation of how and where to use these. Rock on.

  16. Hi Svetlana! I think I posted this question in the wrong topic, so posting again here with more details.

    I need to extract a string between two other strings (a word and a character) within a cell, but those other strings may repeat inside the cell at different intervals.

    For example - a scanning tool conducts several tests and returns all of the results within a cell, but we only want information on the failures

    multi-line cell example:

    Test: Endpoint
    Result: Pass
    Details: Endpoint Connected
    *****
    Test: Resolution
    Result: Fail
    Details: Unable to resolve FQDN
    *****
    Test: Port
    Result: Fail
    Details: Port 1234 does not respond

    We initially tried to re-organize the output using text to columns but it seems to be thrown off by the carriage returns inside the cell and ideally, we want to wan).

    So we're left with searching for some combination of MID, SEARCH, and maybe LEN functions? but it's proving very difficult. It's easy to find the first instance of "Failed", but to then find the stopping point which has to be the very next "^" char after that instance of "Failed", while also then being able to repeat the extraction for any other Failed tests inside the same cell.

  17. Hi Svetlana, I am trying to use Find or Search function for multiple conditions, how can I use this?

    I have a table where I want to extract the first name from full name but the values are not consistent. I am getting different values in different cells for example:

    Full Name:

    Derek Gorgi
    Jonathan, Kelly

    Now I am trying to extract the first name before " " and/or before "," then how can I use Find or Search function to get the First Name without Space or comma

    To get the First value where I was getting only space, I was using the following formula as shown below but not sure how can I inculcate multiple search criteria as mentioned above.

    =LEFT(A2, FIND(" ",A2,1)-1)

    Please help.

    Thanks
    Sandeep

    1. hello sandeep sir..
      according to me..
      no need to apply (-1) in the formula =LEFT(A2, FIND(" ",A2,1)-1)
      formula is:
      =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2,1))

  18. SEARCH is not case sensitive. Please correct.

    1. Hello,

      The article says that FIND is case-sensitive and SEARCH is case-insensitive. That's exactly what you say :)

  19. Can someone clarify my surmise: EXCEL does not support searching of text with wild card that involve MULTIPLE Criteria Using the FILTER menu. Say,
    Finding all the records in which the Name filed either BEGINS with John OR ends with Higgins? I tried and and not get the desired results; it does not report error but gives only those records satisfying first criterion.

  20. Hi,

    I would like to ask on how to create a formula in searching one word to another tab. Like for example, i need to get the word apple in other tab but the word from that tab is apple pie, the formula i need is to get all with the word apple.

    Thanks in advance

  21. =LEFT(A1,FIND("*",A1))

  22. Ma'am Lets say i have (3242*4643) and i have to extract from ( to * then what would i have to do?

  23. Hi,

    I have a problem in excel for find and pest,

    The problem is "in a excel one page i have some numbers(123456), same page same number included in some words(abcd123456), so i can find out based on any formula please let me know, i am waiting.

  24. Wonderful.
    Thank you

  25. Hello. This page is great. Thank you for sharing. Question, Your number 4, Find text between parentheses.... How do I apply this to multiple to an excel sheet that has many multiple lines of data? Each Line will have information in parentheses and we would like to pull the information within the parentheses from each line? Would I need to apply the formula =MID(D1,SEARCH("(",D1),SEARCH(")",D1)-SEARCH("(",D1)+1) to each line of data or is there an easy way to drag and select multiple line? (I know this formula includes the parentheses, which is what we want). Thanks!

    1. Hello,

      I'm afraid there's no easy way to solve your task with a formula. Using a VBA macro would be the best option here.

      However, since we do not cover the programming area (VBA-related questions), I can advice you to try and look for the solution in VBA sections on mrexcel.com or excelforum.com.

      Sorry I can't assist you better.

  26. Hi,

    Great set of examples on how to go about finding stuff in excel cells. I have a question though which i haven't found in your examples (or overlooked). I get a data dump with a json string in a cell. In json there is a lot of use of the " character. I can't seem to figure out how to look for a " in a cell.

    Placing it in '"' (single quotes surrounding the ") didn't help either. Is this at all possible and if so how?

    1. Hi Remi,
      Please try to use one of the following formulas:
      1. =FIND("""",A1)
      2. =FIND(CHAR(34),A1)
      Hope this will work for you.

  27. In one tab ('Orchard details')of a spreadsheet I have a list of our 14 orchards and their respective varieties in each orchard. Some orchards have more than one variety. Some orchards have the same variety as other orchards. One field in the list is fallow at present. This list is in cells AA6:AA27. In another tab ('Orchard varieties'), I want to create just a list of the varieties that we grow taken from the 'Orchard details' list, reporting the (orchard varieties' tab in cells B93:B105. As we grub old orchards and plant new ones we may change the variety so the 'Orchard varieties' list would need to change as we replant our orchardsand record them in the 'Orchard details' list. Thank you.

  28. Hi,
    I have a column with multi-word text strings, I'd like to look in that text and for any cell in the column that contains one of three (e.g.) words, I'd like to return "X", else "Y".
    For example, if the text contains 'green', 'blue' or 'purple' I'd like the result to be 'cool' else 'warm'

    COL A COL B (result)
    light pink warm
    forest green cool
    ocean blue cool
    burnt orange warm

    thanks,

    1. sorry...didn't know spaces wouldn't be retained.

      Col A | Col B(result)
      light pink | warm
      forest green | cool
      ocean blue | cool
      burnt orange | warm

      1. Nevermind...unless there is an easier solution.
        This works:

        =IFERROR(IF(FIND("GREEN",$BJ34),"Cool","Warm"),IFERROR(IF(FIND("BLUE",$BJ34),"Cool","Warm"),IFERROR(IF(FIND("PURPLE",$BJ34),"Cool","Warm"),"Warm")))

        I suppose 'Search' instead of 'Find' is optional if there is concern about being case-sensitive.

  29. Hi,

    I'm using the below formula to extract data (equipment number) with a hyphen. For example, cell contains:

    V-1770A BLAST/PAINT EXTERNAL SURFACE (#17337C)

    the formula:

    =TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(E3080," ",REPT(" ",99)),MAX(1,FIND("V-",SUBSTITUTE(E3080," ",REPT(" ",99)))-50),99))

    returns the results:

    V-1770A

    The formula works great, but I have to change the FIND find_text parameter for each line.

    Examples of various data lines:

    I-1602 A/B "DRYER" DEMO SCAFFOLD # 2080 (#17324A)
    E-1403 "IN/OUTLET VALVE " DEMO SCAFFOLD #2076 (#17324A)
    C-1407 "INSPECTION WINDOWS" REPLACE METAL/SEALANT (#17324B)
    T-1311C "ROOF TOP NOZZLES" CLEAN/PAINT (#17324C)
    V-1770A BLAST/PAINT EXTERNAL SURFACE (#17337C)

    No matter where the information is on the line the formula works, but I do not want to have to edit the formula each time the equipment letter changes.

    I've tried using a Define Name table in the find_text parameter, but that does not work. Returns #VALUE.

    Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

  30. 6601280012088
    How do I extract the 7th number. =mid(C7,7,1)
    if greater/equal to 7 - indicate "Male" otherwise "Female"

  31. Hi,

    I am trying to find a formula to yield the word to the left of the first space at the right. For example in the first item below, I would want the formula to result in BRAZR. The reason I cant work from the left (or at least I cant seem to) is there is a different number of spaces to get to the word to the left of the last space on the right as you can see below with the other examples. Could you please help me out with this??

    XXX 5C-15 HZ BRAZR 3-14-47-14
    XXX KARR 13-28-65-3
    XXX HZ LEDUC-WB 16-9-49-25
    XXX HZ BANTRY 4-21-19-13

    Much appreciated.

  32. I am trying to find a way to search a specific combination of letters in a list of words. For example, lets say I have a list of 100 words and I want to find all of the words that have exactly 1 A and 1 U in them and they don't have to be consecutive. Mutate, jaunt, magnum are examples that would meet my criterion. Does anyone know how to do this? Thanks.

    Also, if possible I would like to be able "extract" (if that is the right term) those letters in alphabetical order into the cell to the right of the word. Eventually, I will sort the list of words and the extracted letters by the extracted letters to group the words that have the A and U.

    1. Hello,

      I believe you could use our Advanced Find & Replace add-in. On the first step you choose all your 100 rows and set the letter "A" as a search criterion. Then, you can:
      1. either select all the found rows/columns/entries and run the new search over the selection with the letter "U" as a criterion OR
      2. export the found entries to another workbook and run the search for the letter "u".

      You can learn how the add-in works on its help page.

      As for the second part of your task, I'm afraid you will need to use some kind of the VBA, but for that please ask around Mr. Excel forum.
      Hope this helps!

  33. POD CONTAINER SIZE TOTAL 40HQ reqirued result
    KRPUS 40HQ x 1; 40GP x 10 ; =MID(B5,SEARCH("HQ",B5)+1,(SEARCH(";",A2)-SEARCH("HQ",B5))-1) 1
    PKKHI 20GP x 1 ; 40HQ x 100 ; 40GP x 1 ; 100
    USNYC 20GP x 1 ; 40HQ x 12 ; 40GP x 200 ; 12

    Kindly assit me to correct above code

  34. Hi How to use ISnumber and search formula to find couple of words from one text. Ex I am trying to find either "SHAW or "SHW" from this particular text "GL123456-Defee SR Heloc FR PCI LAND-SHAW"? I am using the formuls Is number(Search"SHAW",text")) and it returns with True or false result which is fine. But I want to embed word"SHW" too in the formula so I can find if the account is SHAW or SHW. How can I do that? I hope I am making sense and able to explain it.
    Appreciate the help.
    Thanks!!

  35. Hi,can you help me,right function in how using "len" function

  36. Hi, can you help me to find out "either" "or" condition in excel. also how to find probability from any data.

  37. OK, I'm stuck.... somebody please help me out.

    I have over 110 unique 7 digit values in Column B (50144815) and I need to see if/where in my spreadsheet they exist (in a different row in Column C).

    Column C is 450 rows long and the unique 7 digit numbers would be hidden in a test string as exampled below:
    "Retracement Survey of Alba, PID 50144815, Plan# 89584, unsigned digital copy, unsigned paper copy 53"

    Vlookup works when it's only numbers comparing numbers, but when there is text and numbers together is seems to be choking up and not returning results.

    1. Hello, Wesside,

      you can try using VLOOKUP with wildcard characters (asterisk in particular). It enables searching for any sequence of characters within the cell.
      Please take a look at these examples to learn how to level your formula up.

      Another variant would be to use conditional formatting to highlight the row with the occurred values. And we have just a perfect tutorial for that either :)

      Hope this info will be helpful!

      1. Ah, still having some trouble with this...

        the * * trick doesn't seem to work using my limited knowledge of excel lol.

        basically I want to compare column B (108 rows) to see where those number are in Column C (450 rows).

        I had a "bit" of success but not much.

        Then I tried this formula =vlookup('[Escrow108.xlsx]CBO Tab#2 - Other DNR'!$B$2:$B$109,O:O,1,FALSE)

        I tried taking Column B and putting into another work sheet, then VLookup to compare column B on sheet 1 with column C on sheet 2, nope, even less success. The formula I used seems to stop searching at row 109 in column c...PLUS it isn't finding numbers in column c that I know exist in column b.

        ASLO, i should note that in some cases, 3 rows of Column B might be listed in the text for 1 row of column C.

      2. Fabulous! I'll give it a try, was currently trying variations of "index and Match" functions

  38. Hi, How to get the result for Search Function by selecting the range

    Ex Search("Lucy",A1:A10)

  39. Hi,

    My data is like this:
    Cell A: location (duplicate values)
    Cell B: Revenue from those locations (positive and negative values)
    Cell C: Month value

    For a particular location (multiple values), I would like to get the value of the month when the revenue was greater than zero for the first time.

    Can someone help me with this?

    Thanks!

  40. Hi, could you advise for my below sample?
    Text sample 1: Creat highchart 4.0.418.02%91.98%-0.80%Fixed IncomeEquityOthersLoan010203
    Text sample 2: Creat highchart 4.0.49.00%92.00%EquityReal Estate04020
    I want to extract 2 text from each text sample above:
    A. Start after 4.0.4 till the last %
    B. Start from last % till before the first number show(the first number is always 0)
    That is: "18.02%91.98%-0.80%" and "Fixed IncomeEquityOthersLoan" from text sample 1
    "9.00%92.00%" and "EquityReal Estate" from text sample 2
    The difficulty is the number of % occurrences is not fixed and the length of last number is not fixed. I'm thinking if there is a way to find position of the first % starting from right? I really got stuck here. Thanks for help in advance!

  41. I have this formula =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(D$1,L41&M41)),A41,"") every thing was perfect but than I found that this formula is searching some words from A1 that match in L41& M41 . example I only wanted XXX YYY ZZZ but it also displaying XXX only

  42. Hi, I have a requirement where in there are 10 parameters. Each parameter would result in different complexities from Very low complexity to Very high complexity. Based on these complexities an overall complexity should be arrived at.If 2 of the parameters result in very high complexity and the remaining are other complexities then the end result would be very high complexity. Like wise for other complexities from top to low. Could you please help in writing a formula for this.

    Thanks
    Prashant

  43. I am trying to figure out how to remove the last few characters of text strings in a table that are not all the same length and last 3 characters are different.

    WM08-04358*A 1 to display as WM08-04358
    CLX-87390*B 3 to display as CLX-87390

    Any suggestions are appreciated!

  44. Hi there.... Just filter the column with contains as text.. Input text "app".

    You will get all rows where appword is found

  45. Hi Expert,
    I have a problem using Search if there is same character on the beginning.
    Here is my problem.
    on column A i have this data:
    A2=> Green;Apple
    A3=> App;technology
    A4=> Java; API

    How can i get row that contains text "App"?

    Thank you for your help

    1. Hi there.... Just filter the column with contains as text.. Input text "app".

      You will get all rows where appword is found

  46. Ohio 44707 USA
    Alabama 36609 USA
    North Carolina 27591 USA

    I want to extract data before any first number character. For ex.

    In first example, I want to extract OHIO
    In second example, I want to extract Alabama
    In third example, I want to extract North Carolina.

    Please anyone can help?

    1. Hi Anand,

      Not sure if you still need an answer but this will do what you require:
      =TRIM(LEFT(A1,MIN(SEARCH({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},A1&"0123456789"))-1))

      Change A1 as appropriate

  47. Hi! This is EXTREMELY helpful! Thank you for all your efforts. I was wondering if it is possible to use this in a more complex situation:

    if the text string contains the word "doctor" or the word "facility", then I would like to add a category column, and have the word "Provider".

    if the string contains "drug" then the category would be "Pharmacy", and so forth.

    I was thinking of combining IF/THEN but it kinda blows my mind...

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks!

    John

  48. Hi
    Can Search Function be used for array?

  49. Hi Svetlana!
    Its really helpful post.
    I have a query, in which i have to extract multiple columns into text on daily basis.
    Kindly formulate a formula, in which each text in a column should have to be separated into separate columns.
    A2=
    B# 12/16, 09-NOV-16 , [C] , Company X [ Company Y ]
    Required result:
    | B# | 12/16 | 09-11-2016 | [C] | Company X | Company Y |

    Looking forward for guidance
    Regards

  50. Hi All

    I was hoping for some help. I need to extract the string which starts with either Z or A which is followed by 5 numerical characters; e.g.:
    jd422290_backing_A54321sheet_960x1850_x_6_0
    jf418407_Z12345_02_x9_1_0

    a) A54321
    b) Z12345

    Any help would be appreciated.

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