SEARCHB Function (Gnumeric)

• Introduced: Introduced in Gnumeric 1.9.11 release notes.
• Supported in: Registered in Gnumeric 1.12.62; no retirement is established.
• Last functioning version: Selected calculations are verified in 1.12.57. The newest functioning release is unverified; source registration in 1.12.62 does not establish newer runtime results.
• Scope: Desktop Gnumeric with its String Functions plugin. English comma-separated formulas are shown.
• Checked: October 14, 2026. Tables use 1.12.57 ssconvert under C.UTF-8; 1.12.62 was source-inspected only.

SEARCHB finds a case-insensitive pattern and returns its one-based byte position in the original UTF-8 string. * matches any sequence, ? matches one character, and ~ escapes a literal wildcard symbol. Versioned function help.

=SEARCHB(pattern,text[,start_byte])

• pattern: Required search text, optionally containing wildcards.
• text: Required source string.
• start_byte: Optional one-based byte position, default 1; it must be within the source byte length.

Brackets indicate optional arguments; do not type them. Current worksheet implementation.

The native column records recalculated CSV field content. Quotes delimit readable text; "" means an empty field expected to be text from the callback. They do not certify the exported cell type. The independent column checks the stated character mapping, UTF-8 byte operation or decimal conversion.

=SEARCHB("É","Lévy") returns 2, even though the source uses lowercase é. =SEARCHB("V","Lévy") returns 4. The position counts UTF-8 bytes, while the wildcard question mark matches a character: =SEARCHB("?B","A中B") finds the three-byte 中 followed by B, beginning at byte 2.

The saved =MIDB("Lévy",SEARCHB("É","Lévy"),LENB("é")) extracts é. A search result provides only the start position, not the matched length. In particular, do not use LENB of a wildcard pattern as the length of its actual match.

To find a literal star in a*b, use =SEARCHB("~*","a*b"); the answer is 2. The same escape rule locates the question mark in a?b. In Cancún, the pattern n*n starts at byte 3 but has no match when searching from byte 4.

A missing match or invalid start gives #VALUE!. The empty-pattern examples return the allowed start within a nonempty source; an empty source or start beyond the last byte fails. F2 contains Lévy.

Starting inside a multibyte character is not a portable technique. The old callback adjusts the byte pointer using the preceding byte; the 1.12.62 callback uses the selected byte directly. Both complete implementations were inspected, but the newer regular-expression behavior at an invalid UTF-8 starting boundary was not executed or inferred. Derive starts from known character boundaries.

The source snapshots and native results below were retained from October 14, 2026. The recovered guide was checked against those saved records on October 15; neither the application nor a newer release was executed again.

• Current worksheet callback
• Tested-version worksheet callback

The complete SEARCHB callback changes starting-pointer handling and regular-expression cleanup. Newer inside-character search behavior remains unverified. Both stale and uncached SUM controls recalculated correctly. Saved native XML retains the function identities. No GUI result display, other locale, native output-type certification or newer-release execution is claimed.

SEARCH, FIND, MID.