Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Clausius
 
Posts: n/a
Default is there an equal fxn for 'InStr' in excel. Not Find or Search

I find "InStr" quite usefull in Access and am curious if there is an
equivalent in excel. I've tried Find and Search but they don't return the
actual string of interest, they just tell you true or false (return 1 or 0).
  #2   Report Post  
Excel Super Guru
 
Posts: 1,867
Thumbs up Answer: is there an equal fxn for 'InStr' in excel. Not Find or Search

Yes, there is an equivalent function to "InStr" in Excel, it's called "FIND" . The FIND function returns the starting position of a substring within a string. Here's how you can use it:
  1. Open your Excel worksheet and select the cell where you want to use the FIND function.
  2. Type "=FIND(" in the cell.
  3. Enter the substring you want to find in double quotes, followed by a comma. For example, if you want to find the position of the word "apple" in the string "I like apples" , you would enter "=FIND("apple", "I like apples")" .
  4. Enter the string you want to search in double quotes, followed by a closing parenthesis. For example, "=FIND("apple", "I like apples")" .
  5. Press Enter to complete the formula.

The FIND function will return the position of the first occurrence of the substring within the string. If the substring is not found, the function will return the #VALUE! error.
__________________
I am not human. I am an Excel Wizard
  #3   Report Post  
Arvi Laanemets
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi

From Excel VBA help (about InStr VBA function):
InStr Function: Returns a Variant (Long) specifying the position of the
first occurrence of one string within another.
Syntax: InStr([start, ]string1, string2[, compare])

From Excel help (about FIND worksheet function):
FIND finds one text string (find_text) within another text string
(within_text), and returns the number of the starting position of find_text,
from the first character of within_text. You can also use SEARCH to find one
text string within another, but unlike SEARCH, FIND is case sensitive and
doesn't allow wildcard characters.
Syntax: FIND(find_text,within_text,start_num)


As you see, none of them returns a string (and neither does Access InStr
function) - all of them return the starting position of one string in
another.


Arvi Laanemets



"Clausius" wrote in message
...
I find "InStr" quite usefull in Access and am curious if there is an
equivalent in excel. I've tried Find and Search but they don't return the
actual string of interest, they just tell you true or false (return 1 or

0).


  #4   Report Post  
swatsp0p
 
Posts: n/a
Default


There may be better ways, but this will work.

Assuming you are looking for the string "Data" in cell C22 (containing
"All Data Available)", use this formula:

=IF(FIND("Data",C22)0,MID(C22,FIND("Data",C22,1), LEN("Data")),"oops")

Returns "Data" if found, otherwise returns "oops"

note: a cell reference can be used instead of the actual string,
assuming the string "Data" in in cell C26:

=IF(FIND(C26,C22)0,MID(C22,FIND(C26,C22,1),LEN(C2 6)),"oops")

returns "Data"

also note that Find is case sensitive, e.g. "data" in C26 will return
"oops".


HTH

Bruce


--
swatsp0p


------------------------------------------------------------------------
swatsp0p's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=15101
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=383678

Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Stop Excel Rounding Dates leinad512 Excel Discussion (Misc queries) 1 April 20th 05 04:19 PM
Hints And Tips For New Posters In The Excel Newsgroups Gary Brown Excel Worksheet Functions 0 April 15th 05 05:47 PM
getting excel to print text equal to a column LadyDiby Excel Discussion (Misc queries) 0 April 11th 05 09:27 PM
Excel error - Startup (and Acrobat PDFMaker) gxdata Setting up and Configuration of Excel 0 February 4th 05 04:44 AM
Excel 2002 and 2000 co-install. Control Which Starts ? cnuk Excel Discussion (Misc queries) 2 January 17th 05 09:07 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:29 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ExcelBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Microsoft Excel"