search vs find vs countif

[Darby]

I am trying to find a text string within a text field column in a large
spreadsheet.

I've discovered that =COUNTIF(A1,"*abc*") does not work if the starting
position of the text is >300

=SEARCH("abc",A1) and =FIND("abc",A1) both seem to work fine.

The spreadsheet is big and slow so I'd like to pick the most efficient
choice, but am also wondering what the difference between the 2 options are.

Thanks

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

This is a question for an Excel newsgroup, not FrontPage.
--
Tom [Pepper] Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
---------------------------
:I am trying to find a text string within a text field column in a large
: spreadsheet.
:
: I've discovered that =COUNTIF(A1,"*abc*") does not work if the starting
: position of the text is >300
:
: =SEARCH("abc",A1) and =FIND("abc",A1) both seem to work fine.
:
: The spreadsheet is big and slow so I'd like to pick the most efficient
: choice, but am also wondering what the difference between the 2 options
are.
:
: Thanks