start

Optional. Numeric expression that sets the starting position for each search. If omitted, search begins at the first character position. If start contains Null, an error occurs. The start argument is required if compare is specified.

string1

Required. String expression being searched.

string2

Required. String expression searched for.

compare

Optional. Numeric value indicating the kind of comparison to use when evaluating substrings. See Settings section for values. If omitted, a binary comparison is performed.

The compare argument can have the following values:

The InStr function returns the following values:

The following examples use InStr to search a string:

Copy Code

Dim SearchString, SearchChar, MyPos SearchString ="XXpXXpXXPXXP" ' String to search in. SearchChar = "P" ' Search for "P". MyPos = Instr(4, SearchString, SearchChar, 1) ' A textual comparison starting at position 4. Returns 6. MyPos = Instr(1, SearchString, SearchChar, 0) ' A binary comparison starting at position 1. Returns 9. MyPos = Instr(SearchString, SearchChar) ' Comparison is binary by default (last argument is omitted). Returns 9. MyPos = Instr(1, SearchString, "W") ' A binary comparison starting at position 1. Returns 0 ("W" is not found).

Note
The InStrB function is used with byte data contained in a string. Instead of returning the character position of the first occurrence of one string within another, InStrB returns the byte position.

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Reference