VBScript InStr Function

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# VBScript InStr Function

Complete VBScript Reference

The InStr function returns the position of the first occurrence of one string within another.

The InStr function can return 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 at which match is found
- If start > Len(string1) - InStr returns 0

Tip: Also look at the InStrRev function

### Syntax

InStr([start,]string1,string2[,compare])

Parameter | Description
--- | ---
start | Optional. Specifies the starting position for each search. The search begins at the first character position (1) by default. This parameter is required if compare is specified
string1 | Required. The string to be searched
string2 | Required. The string expression to search for

compare

Optional. Specifies the string comparison to use. Default is 0

Can have one of the following values:

- 0 = vbBinaryCompare - Perform a binary comparison
- 1 = vbTextCompare - Perform a textual comparison

## Examples

## Example 1

<script type="text/vbscript">
txt="This is a beautiful day!"
document.write(InStr(txt,"beautiful"))
</script>

The output of the code above will be:

11
Try it yourself »

## Example 2

Finding 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>

The output of the code above will be:

3
16
Try it yourself »

## Example 3

Finding the letter "t", with textual, 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>

The output of the code above will be:

1
15
Try it yourself »

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