INDEX Function

Returns the starting column position of a substring within a string.

Syntax

INDEX(char-string,substring,substr-occur)

Syntax Elements

char-string is the string containing the substring, expressed as a variable name, a dynamic array reference, or a literal enclosed in quotes.

substring is the substring to be located, expressed as a variable name, a dynamic array reference, or a literal enclosed in quotes.

substr-occur is an integer delineating which occurrence of the substring is used.

Comments

If substring is not found, a value of zero is returned. If substring is null, then the specified occurrence number is returned.

Examples

START = INDEX("ABCDEFGHI","DEF",1)

Assigns the value 4 to the variable START.

A = INDEX("CCXXCCXXCC","XX",2)

Assigns the value 7 to A, because the second occurrence of substring XX starts at column 7.

VAR = INDEX("ABC123","Z",1)

Assigns a value of 0 to VAR, because Z is not present in the string ABC123.

X = "1234ABC"
Y = "ABC"
IF INDEX(X,Y,1)=5 THEN GOTO 3

Transfers control to statement 3, because ABC starts at column position 5 of string X.

S = "X1XX1XX1XX"
FOR I=1 TO INDEX(S,"1",3)
    .
    .
    .
NEXT I

Executes the loop 8 times, because the third occurrence of 1 appears in column 8 of string S.