How can I use the FIND function in Google Sheets to locate specific data within a cell or range of cells?

Returns the position at which a string is first found within text, case-sensitive.

Sample Usage

FIND("n",A2)

FIND("wood","How much wood can a woodchuck chuck",14)

Syntax

FIND(search_for, text_to_search, [starting_at])

• search_for – The string to look for within text_to_search.

• text_to_search – The text to search for the first occurrence of search_for.

• starting_at – [ OPTIONAL – 1 by default ] – The character within text_to_search at which to start the search.

Notes

• FIND is case-sensitive, meaning that uppercase and lowercase letters matter. For example, “abc” will not match “ABC”. To ignore case, use the SEARCH function.
• Ensure that search_for and text_to_search are not supplied in reverse order, or the #VALUE! error will likely be returned. The arguments are supplied in a different order than other text functions such as SPLIT and SUBSTITUTE.
• It’s recommended to use a function such as IFERROR to check for cases when there aren’t matches to the search.
• If the pattern you’re searching for isn’t found, #VALUE! is returned. 

See Also

SUBSTITUTE: Replaces existing text with new text in a string.

SPLIT: Divides text around a specified character or string, and puts each fragment into a separate cell in the row.

SEARCH: Returns the position at which a string is first found within text, ignoring case.

IFERROR: Returns the first argument if it is not an error value, otherwise returns the second argument if present, or a blank if the second argument is absent.

Examples

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