# Locate
Locate

`locate` locates a substring that you specify within another string, and returns the number of characters until the first character in the substring. The function returns 0 if it doesn't find the substring. The function is 1-based.

## Syntax


```
locate(expression, substring, start)
```

## Arguments


 *expression*   
The expression must be a string. It can be the name of a field that uses the string data type, a literal value like **'12 Main Street'**, or a call to another function that outputs a string.

 *substring*   
The set of characters in *expression* that you want to locate. The substring can occur one or more times in *expression*.

 *start*   
(Optional) If *substring* occurs more than once, use *start* to identify where in the string the function should start looking for the substring. For example, suppose that you want to find the second example of a substring and you think it typically occurs after the first 10 characters. You specify a *start* value of 10. It should start from 1.

## Return type


Integer

## Examples


The following example returns information about where the first occurrence of the substring 'and' appears in a string.

```
locate('1 and 2 and 3 and 4', 'and')
```

The following value is returned.

```
3
```

The following example returns information about where the first occurrence of the substring 'and' appears in a string after the fourth character.

```
locate('1 and 2 and 3 and 4', 'and', 4)
```

The following value is returned.

```
9
```