ABAP Keyword Documentation →  ABAP - Reference →  Processing Internal Data →  Character String and Byte String Processing →  Expressions and Functions for String Processing →  String Functions →  Description Functions for Character-Type Arguments 

find, find_... - Search Functions

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Syntax Forms

1. ... find( val = text  {sub = substring}|{regex = regex} [case = case]
               [off = off] [len = len] [occ = occ] ) ...

2. ... find_end( val = text regex = regex [case = case]
                   [off = off] [len = len] [occ = occ] ) ...

3. ... find_any_of( val = text  sub = substring
                      [off = off] [len = len] [occ = occ] ) ...

4. ... find_any_not_of( val = text  sub = substring
                          [off = off] [len = len] [occ = occ] ) ...

Effect

The search functions find and find_... scan text for the characters specified in substring or for a match with a regular expression specified in regex, with the scanned subarea specified in the optional parameters off and len and the occurrence of the match specified in the optional parameter occ.

The return code has the type i and is filled as follows:

• The function find searches for the exact substring specified in substring or for a match with the regular expression regex and returns the offset of the occurrence with respect to the full length of text. The search is case-sensitive by default, but you can override this with the parameter case. If substring is empty, an exception from the class CX_SY_STRG_PAR_VAL is raised.

• The function find_end searches like find, however it returns the sum of the offset of the location and the length of the correspondence to the regular expression.

• The function find_any_of returns the offset of the occurrence of any character in substring, and is always case-sensitive. If substring is empty, the value -1 is returned.

• The function find_any_not_of returns the offset of the found occurrence of any character not in substring, and is always case-sensitive. If substring is empty, the value -1 is returned.

If a search is not successful, all functions return the value -1.

The optional parameters off, len, and occ have the following meaning when combined:

• If occ is positive, the subarea defined by off and len is searched from left to right.

• If occ is negative, the subarea defined by off and len is searched from right to left.

The occurrence of the match specified by occ refers to the search area defined by off and len.

Notes

• Using the related search functions count and count_..., you can determine the total number of occurrences instead of an offset.

• Like the statement FIND, the search functions can be faster than the comparison operator CS cy some magnitude.

Example

See String Functions, find and substring

Exceptions

Catchable Exceptions

CX_SY_RANGE_OUT_OF_BOUNDS

• Cause: Illegal offset or length specification in the off and len.
  Runtime Error: STRING_OFFSET_TOO_LARGE
  

CX_SY_REGEX_TOO_COMPLEX

• Cause: More information: Exceptions in Regular Expressions.
  Runtime Error: REGEX_TOO_COMPLEX
  

CX_SY_STRG_PAR_VAL

• Cause: Substring in sub or regular expression in regex is empty or occurrence in occ is 0.
  Runtime Error: STRG_ILLEGAL_PAR