Edit

SEARCH

  • Article

Returns the number of the character at which a specific character or text string is first found, reading left to right. Search is case-insensitive and accent sensitive.

Syntax

SEARCH(<find_text>, <within_text>[, [<start_num>][, <NotFoundValue>]])

Parameters

Term Definition
find_text The text that you want to find.

You can use wildcard characters — the question mark (?) and asterisk (*) — in find_text. A question mark matches any single character; an asterisk matches any sequence of characters. If you want to find an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) before the character.
within_text The text in which you want to search for find_text, or a column containing text.
start_num (optional) The character position in within_text at which you want to start searching. If omitted, 1.
NotFoundValue (optional, but strongly recommended) The value that should be returned when the operation does not find a matching substring, typically 0, -1, or BLANK(). If not specified, an error is returned.

Return value

The number of the starting position of the first text string from the first character of the second text string.

Remarks

  • The search function is case insensitive. Searching for "N" will find the first occurrence of 'N' or 'n'.

  • The search function is accent sensitive. Searching for "á" will find the first occurrence of 'á' but no occurrences of 'a', 'à', or the capitalized versions 'A', 'Á'.

  • You can use the SEARCH function to determine the location of a character or text string within another text string, and then use the MID function to return the text, or use the REPLACE function to change the text.

  • If the find_text cannot be found in within_text, the formula returns an error. This behavior is like Excel, which returns #VALUE if the substring is not found. Nulls in within_text will be interpreted as an empty string in this context.

  • This function is not supported for use in DirectQuery mode when used in calculated columns or row-level security (RLS) rules.

Example

The following DAX query finds the position of the first letter of "cycle", in the string that contains the reseller name. If not found, Blank is returned.

SEARCH is case-insensitive. In this example, if "cycle" or "Cycle" is used in the <find_text> argument, results are returned for either case. Use FIND for case-sensitive.

Examples in this article can be used with the sample Adventure Works DW 2020 Power BI Desktop model. To get the model, see DAX sample model.

EVALUATE
CALCULATETABLE (
    ADDCOLUMNS (
        TOPN ( 10, SUMMARIZE('Reseller', [Reseller], [Business Type])),
        "Position of cycle", SEARCH ( "cycle", 'Reseller'[Reseller], 1, BLANK () )
    ),
    'Reseller'[Business Type] IN { "Specialty Bike Shop", "Value Added Reseller", "Warehouse"}
)

Returns,

Reseller Business Type Position of cycle
Volume Bike Sellers Warehouse
Mass Market Bikes Value Added Reseller
Twin Cycles Value Added Reseller 6
Rich Department Store Warehouse
Rental Gallery Specialty Bike Shop
Budget Toy Store Warehouse
Global Sports Outlet Warehouse
Online Bike Catalog Warehouse
Helmets and Cycles Value Added Reseller 13
Jumbo Bikes Specialty Bike Shop

Related content

FIND
REPLACE
Text functions