Find vs Search Function in Excel (Video in Khmer)

Hello everyone! Today I show you how to use FIND and SEARCH formula in Excel step by step with simple examples and video speak Khmer.

You ever want to find the position (character number) of a specific text inside another text cell? For example, finding where the space " " or letter "A" is located so you can extract First Name or Last Name? Excel have two formulas for this: FIND and SEARCH. They look very similar, but they have key differences!

Let's look at how to use both function below.

1. How to Use FIND Formula in Excel

FIND function return the starting position of a substring within a text string. FIND is Case-Sensitive (Uppercase "A" is different from lowercase "a") and it does NOT support wildcards (* or ?).

Formula Syntax:

=FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num])

Example:

If cell A2 contains "Excel Tutorial":

• =FIND("E", A2) ➔ 1 (Capital "E" is position 1)
• =FIND("e", A2) ➔ 4 (Lowercase "e" is position 4)

Watch video below for step by step guide in Khmer:

2. How to Use SEARCH Formula in Excel

SEARCH function also return the starting position of a substring within a text string. But SEARCH is Not Case-Sensitive (Uppercase "A" and lowercase "a" are treated the same!) and it supports wildcard characters like * and ?.

Formula Syntax:

=SEARCH(find_text, within_text, [start_num])

Example:

If cell A2 contains "Excel Tutorial":

• =SEARCH("e", A2) ➔ 1 (Finds first "e" regardless of capital or small letter!)
• =SEARCH(" ", A2) ➔ 6 (Finds position of space character)

Watch video below for full guide in Khmer:

💡 Quick Tip:

• Use SEARCH when you want to find text regardless of upper or lower case (e.g., searching for space " " to split names with LEFT or MID).
• Use FIND when case sensitivity matters (e.g., distinguishing code numbers like "AB102" vs "ab102").

📚 Useful Resources

• How to Use Text Cleaning Formulas in Excel (LEFT, RIGHT, MID, LEN, TRIM, CLEAN)
• Concat vs TextJoin Function in Excel (Video in Khmer)
• Top 15 Basic Excel Formulas Every Beginner Should Know
• How to Allow Input Number and Text Only in Excel with Data Validation
• Free Download PDF - 50 Popular Excel Formulas Cheatsheet (Khmer Language)