VBScript InStrFunction
Complete VBScript Reference
The InStr function returns the position of the first occurrence of one string within another.
The InStr function returns the following values:
- If string1 is "" - InStr returns 0
- If string1 is Null - InStr returns Null
- If string2 is "" - InStr returns start
- If string2 is Null - InStr returns Null
- If string2 is not found - InStr returns 0
- If string2 is found within string1 - InStr returns the position of the first matching string found
- If start > Len(string1) - InStr returns 0
Tip:See the InStrRev function.
Syntax
InStr([start,]string1,string2[,compare])
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| start | Optional. Specifies the starting position for each search. The default starting position is the first character (1). This parameter is required if the compare parameter has been specified. |
| string1 | Required. The string to be searched. |
| string2 | Required. The string expression to search for. |
| compare | Optional. Specifies the type of string comparison to use. Default is 0. Can use the following values:
|
Examples
Example 1
<script type="text/vbscript">
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(txt,"beautiful"))
</script>
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(txt,"beautiful"))
</script>
The output of the above example is:
11
Try it yourself »
Example 2
Find the letter "i" using different starting positions:
<script type="text/vbscript">
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(1,txt,"i") & "<br />")
document.write(InStr(7,txt,"i") & "<br />")
</script>
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(1,txt,"i") & "<br />")
document.write(InStr(7,txt,"i") & "<br />")
</script>
The output of the above example is:
3
16
16
Try it yourself »
Example 3
Find the letter "t" using text and binary comparison:
<script type="text/vbscript">
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(1,txt,"t",1) & "<br />")
document.write(InStr(1,txt,"t",0) & "<br />")
</script>
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(1,txt,"t",1) & "<br />")
document.write(InStr(1,txt,"t",0) & "<br />")
</script>
The output of the above example is:
1
15
15
Try it yourself »
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