They look almost identical and do the same job — except one is case-sensitive and one isn't.
Both FIND and SEARCH return the position of one text string inside another. "Where does this word appear in this text?" is the question both answer.
=FIND("pro", "ExcelPro") returns 6
=SEARCH("pro", "ExcelPro") returns 6=FIND("pro", "ExcelPro") returns #VALUE! error (case-sensitive: "Pro" ≠ "pro")
=SEARCH("pro", "ExcelPro") returns 6 (case-insensitive: finds "Pro")FIND is case-sensitive. SEARCH is not. That's the only meaningful difference.
SEARCH supports wildcard characters (* and ?). FIND does not. Use SEARCH when you need pattern matching.
=SEARCH("Ex*Pro", "ExcelPro") returns 1 (wildcard match)
=FIND("Ex*Pro", "ExcelPro") returns #VALUE! (no wildcards in FIND)=ISNUMBER(SEARCH("invoice", A2))
-- Returns TRUE if A2 contains "invoice" (case-insensitive)
-- Wrap in IF for a label: =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("invoice", A2)), "Invoice", "Other")Use SEARCH in almost all cases — it's more forgiving and supports wildcards. Only use FIND when case sensitivity genuinely matters (e.g. you need to distinguish "North" from "north").
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