The Difference Between Search and Find Function in Excel

The SEARCH and FIND functions in excel both return the position of a text in a text string.

For example, what is the position of the text “Air” in “American Airlines Group”? Both functions return 10 which means the text “Air” starts from the 10th character in the string

There are 2 Difference between these two functions.

1. FIND is case sensitive while SEARCH is not. For example, if you capitalize the text “AIR”, the FIND function will return the #VALUE error since it cannot find the exact text.

2. FIND does not allow the use of wildcards while Search Does

When choosing what function to use, always consider above differences.

For example, what function would you choose for below Totals?

1. Totaling Sales shipped by Airlines

For this task , since the text “air” in Uppercase, lowercase and propercase, then SEARCH function will work

2. Totaling codes contains PO not po

This task requires you search for an UPPERcase text “PO”.

Anytime your task requires case sensitive manipulation. Always use FIND function

Related Tasks

HOW TO SUMIFS EXACT MATCH IN EXCEL