SQL Server CHARINDEX() Function

Search for "t" in string "Customer", and return position:

SELECT CHARINDEX('t', 'Customer') AS MatchPosition;

Definition and Usage

The CHARINDEX() function searches for a substring in a string, and returns the position.

If the substring is not found, this function returns 0.

Note: This function performs a case-insensitive search.

CHARINDEX( substring, string, start)

Parameter	Description
substring	Required. The substring to search for
string	Required. The string to be searched
start	Optional. The position where the search will start (if you do not want to start at the beginning of string). The first position in string is 1

Works in:	SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

Search for "OM" in string "Customer", and return position:

SELECT CHARINDEX('OM', 'Customer') AS MatchPosition;

Search for "mer" in string "Customer", and return position (start in position 3):

SELECT CHARINDEX('mer', 'Customer', 3) AS MatchPosition;