# REGEX\_SEARCH

| **Description** | The **`REGEX_SEARCH()`** function is used to find and return the starting index of the first character of the first occurrence of a substring that matches a regular expression pattern within a given text. This function is particularly useful for locating specific patterns or positions within text data. |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Syntax**      | REGEX\_SEARCH(**`text`**, **`pattern`**, \[**offset**])                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |

1. **`text`**: The input text string in which you want to search for a matching substring.
2. **`pattern`**: The regular expression pattern to search for within the text.
3. **offset**: (Optional) An offset (number greater than 0) that specifies the occurrence of the matching substring to return. The default is usually the first occurrence (offset 1).

{% hint style="info" %}
When the **`REGEX_SEARCH()`** function returns -1, it indicates that **there is no matching occurrence** of the specified regular expression pattern or offset within the given text.

*For example, if a user is looking for specific data and **`REGEX_SEARCH()`** function returns -1, they might conclude that the desired data is not present in the document.*
{% endhint %}

## Example

### Table

| ID | Text                                      |
| -- | ----------------------------------------- |
| 1  | Contact us at (555) 555-1234 for support. |
| 2  | Please call 1-800-123-4567 for inquiries. |
| 3  | No phone number in this text.             |

### Function

```
REGEX_SEARCH(`Text`, "[+]?[0-9]?[-. ]?\\(?[0-9]{3}\\)?[-. ]?[0-9]{3}[-. ]?[0-9]{4}")
```

### Results

| REGEX\_SEARCH (integer) |
| ----------------------- |
| 15                      |
| 11                      |
| -1                      |
