FIND primary command

The FIND primary command searches the data for a character string or a numeric field with a particular numeric value.

In a File Manager/Db2 editor session, or the Object List utility:

If the string or numeric value is found, then the FIND command positions the cursor at the beginning of the string or numeric field and, if necessary, automatically scrolls the found data into view.
The FIND command highlights all occurrences of the search string or numeric value (even when you specify FIRST, LAST, PREV, NEXT, EX, NX, or X). To turn off the highlighting, enter the RESET FIND command.

In Print Browse:

If the character string is found, the record containing the string is displayed at the top position.

To find the next occurrence of the same string, press the RFind function key (F5), enter FIND *, or enter the FIND command with no parameters. A message is displayed if the string cannot be found.

Note: FIND * does not repeat the previous FIND command with the same parameters. FIND * repeats the previous FIND command with the same string argument, but all other parameters revert to their default values unless specified.

Syntax

Figure 1. Editor session

column list or range (SNGL or TABL display format)

label range

Notes:

¹ You can specify parameters in any order.

Figure 2. Object List utility

Figure 3. Print Browse

* (asterisk)

Uses the search string specified on the previous FIND command as the search string.

string

The string you want to search for. The string, that can be up to 100 characters in length, can be:

A character string not starting or ending with a single quotation mark and not containing any embedded blanks or commas. The case of the string is ignored. Uppercase and lowercase representations of the same character match. For example, the following command finds the strings black, Black, and BLACK:
```
FIND black
```
A character string enclosed in single quotation marks. The string can contain blanks and commas. The case of the string is ignored. For example, 'Exact string' matches 'exact string'.
C followed by a character string enclosed in quotation marks (C'Frog'), or a character string enclosed in quotation marks followed by C ('Frog'C). The string can contain blanks and commas. The string must match exactly (including case). For example, C'Exact string' does not match C'exact string'.
P preceded or followed by a picture string enclosed in single or double quotation marks to describe a type of string to be found rather than the exact characters. It can contain blanks, alphabetic and numeric characters which represent themselves, or any of the special characters listed here, each of which represents a class of characters:

=

Any character.

@

Alphabetic characters.

#

Numeric characters.

$

Special characters.

& notsym;

Non-blank characters.

.

Invalid characters.

-

Non-numeric characters.

<

Lowercase alphabetics.

>

Uppercase alphabetics.

Examples of picture strings used with the FIND command:

find p'.' #3

Find invalid character in columns 3.

find p'###'

Find 3 digit number (for example, 101 but not 99).

find '@1'p #1

Find label a1,b1,c1, (and so on) in column 1.

find p'<'

Find lowercase alphabetic character.

find p'¬' #2

Find non-blank character in column 2.

When this notation is used, numeric, bit and unicode fields (for SNGL and TABL display formats) are excluded from the search process.
X followed by a hexadecimal string enclosed in single quotation marks. For example, X'C1C2'.
(FM/Db2 editor session only.) A numeric value (only when you limit the search by specifying column numbers, and only when the column being searched is a numeric column).

NEXT

This is the default setting. Causes the search to begin at the cursor location (if the cursor is within the data portion of the display) or the beginning of the first row displayed, and searches ahead to find the next occurrence of string.

ALL

Causes the search to begin at the top of the data and find all occurrences of the string.

Note: Not-selected rows that are hidden from display or represented by shadow lines are not processed by the FIND command, even when the ALL parameter is specified.

FIRST

Causes the search to begin at the beginning of the table and search ahead.

LAST

Causes the search to begin at the end of the table and search backwards.

PREV

Causes the search to begin at the cursor location (if the cursor is within the data portion of the display) or the beginning of the first row displayed, and searches backwards to find the string.

CHARS

Matches the search string anywhere in the data.

PREFIX

Matches the search string wherever it appears as a prefix in the data. To be a prefix, the matched text must be preceded by a non-alphanumeric character or be the start of a line or field, and must be followed by an alphanumeric character.

SUFFIX

Matches the search string wherever it appears as a suffix in the data. To be a suffix, the matched text must be preceded by an alphanumeric character, and must be followed by a non-alphanumeric character or be the end of a line or field.

WORD

Matches the search string wherever it appears as a word in the data. To be a word, the matched text must be preceded by a non-alphanumeric character or be the start of a line or field, and must be followed by a non-alphanumeric character or be the end of a line or field.

#ALL

Each column is searched according to its template attributes.

col_num

The Db2® column number (specified as #n) of a column to be included in the data search. Multiple column numbers must be separated by a comma or, if enclosed in brackets, separated by a blank or comma.

col_num_1

The first field reference of a range of fields. It cannot be subscripted. If the col_num_1 field reference value is less than the lowest displayed field reference value, the lowest displayed field reference value is used.

col_num_2

The last field reference of a range of fields. It cannot be subscripted. If the col_num_2 field reference value is greater than the highest displayed field reference value, the highest displayed field reference value is used.

The col_num_1 and col_num_2 field reference values must be separated by a hyphen (-). Spaces are permitted between the hyphen and the field reference values.

If col_num_1 is a higher value than col_num_2, the search process reverses the operands.

label1

(FM/Db2 editor session only.) Label identifying the start of a range of rows. The label must start with a period (.) followed by one to four alphabetic characters (no numeric or special characters). Labels starting with the letter “Z” indicate an editor-assigned label.

label2

(FM/Db2 editor session only.) Label identifying the end of a range of rows. The label must start with a period (.) followed by one to four alphabetic characters (no numeric or special characters). Labels starting with the letter “Z” indicate an editor-assigned label.

EX

Excluded rows only.

NX

Non-excluded rows only.

X

Same as EX.

FIND primary command

Syntax

Availability

Related tasks