search() Function

Function

search( search_text, within_text, start_num )

Searches the text for the given, case insensitive substring. Returns the one-based positional index of the first character of the first match. Returns zero if the substring is not found.

See also: searchb(), find()

Parameters

Returns

Number

Usage considerations

Using the search_text parameter

The search_text parameter does not support wildcard characters.

Using the within_text parameter

The first character of the entire within_text value is considered to have an index = 1.

Examples

Searching for a substring within a string

1
search("to", "boston")

Returns 4.

Searching for a substring not contained in a string

1
search("ne", "boston")

Returns 0.

Searching with a start index

1
search("o", "boston", 4)

Returns 5. The function starts searching the string at index 4.

Lists

Searching multiple strings at once

1
search({ "t", "i" }, { "boston", "paris" })

Returns { 4, 4 }.

Searching with multiple start indices

1
search("o", "boston", { 1, 3 })

Returns { 2, 5 }. The search is repeated at each start index in the list.

Edge cases

Empty list parameters

1
search({}, "boston")

Returns {}.

Empty string start_num

1
search("o", "boston", "")

Returns 0. The function always returns 0 when given an empty string start_num.

Feature compatibility

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