Return the position of one text string inside another (case-sensitive).
Syntax
FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num])Arguments
find_textrequired
The text to locate.
within_textrequired
The text to search in.
start_numoptional
Position to start searching from.
FIND locates where a substring begins within text and returns its position number. It's case-sensitive (use SEARCH for case-insensitive and wildcards). Most useful nested inside MID/LEFT/RIGHT to split fields dynamically.
=FIND("-", "AB-1234")→3The dash is at position 3.
=MID(A2, FIND("-", A2)+1, 4)→1234Extracts text after the dash dynamically.
Choose the delimiter/text
Decide what marker to locate.
Nest into MID/LEFT/RIGHT
Use the returned position to drive extraction.
FIND is case-sensitive and no wildcards; SEARCH is case-insensitive and supports wildcards.