BeginnerText Functions
Find where a word starts with SEARCH
Locate a keyword inside a longer description without worrying about capitals.
SEARCH
5 min15 points
SEARCH practice exercises
Like FIND, but ignores case and accepts wildcards. Below are 1 interactive exercise that put it to work on realistic business data — you write the formula, and get told exactly what went wrong when it does not work.
Syntax
SEARCH(find_text, within_text, [start_num])
Practise SEARCH
Ordered from most approachable to hardest.
When SEARCH is the right tool
Like FIND, but ignores case and accepts wildcards. It belongs to the text functions family, and it shows up constantly in real work — which is why it is worth being genuinely fluent rather than merely familiar.
Before this one, it helps to be comfortable with FIND. The exercises below assume that ground is covered.
Reading about a function is not the same as being able to write it. The exercises on this page exist because the gap between recognising SEARCH and producing it from memory, correctly, on data you have not seen before, only closes by doing it.
Related functions
Questions about SEARCH
How do I practise SEARCH without Excel installed?
Every exercise on this page runs in your browser. You type the SEARCH formula into a real spreadsheet grid and get told immediately whether it works — no download, no account.
What does SEARCH do?
Like FIND, but ignores case and accepts wildcards. The syntax is SEARCH(find_text, within_text, [start_num]). The exercises below put it to work on realistic business data rather than abstract examples.
How long does it take to learn SEARCH?
Most people can write a working SEARCH formula within twenty minutes of practice. Getting it right under pressure — with edge cases, unsorted data and ranges that must survive being filled down — is what the harder exercises here are for.