Find Method (ADO)

Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)

ADO 2.5 API Reference

Find Method

Searches a Recordset for the row that satisfies the specified criteria. Optionally, the direction of the search, starting row, and offset from the starting row may be specified. If the criteria is met, the current row position is set on the found record; otherwise, the position is set to the end (or start) of the Recordset.

Syntax

Find (Criteria, SkipRows, SearchDirection, Start)

Parameters

Criteria
A String value that contains a statement specifying the column name, comparison operator, and value to use in the search.
SkipRows
Optional. A Long value, whose default value is zero, that specifies the row offset from the current row or Start bookmark to begin the search. By default, the search will start on the current row.
SearchDirection
Optional. A SearchDirectionEnum value that specifies whether the search should begin on the current row or the next available row in the direction of the search. An unsuccessful search stops at the end of the Recordset if the value is adSearchForward. An unsuccessful search stops at the start of the Recordset if the value is adSearchBackward.
Start
Optional. A Variant bookmark that functions as the starting position for the search.

Remarks

Only a single-column name may be specified in criteria. This method does not support multi-column searches.

The comparison operator in Criteria may be ">" (greater than), "<" (less than), "=" (equal), ">=" (greater than or equal), "<=" (less than or equal), "<>" (not equal), or "like" (pattern matching).

The value in Criteria may be a string, floating-point number, or date. String values are delimited with single quotes or "#" (number sign) marks (for example, "state = 'WA'" or "state = #WA#"). Date values are delimited with "#" (number sign) marks (for example, "start_date > #7/22/97#") and can contain hours, minutes and seconds to indicate time stamps but should not contain milliseconds or errors will occur.

If the comparison operator is "like", the string value may contain an asterisk (*) to find one or more occurrences of any character or substring. For example, "state like 'M*'" matches Maine and Massachusetts. You can also use leading and trailing asterisks to find a substring contained within the values. For example, "state like '*as*'" matches Alaska, Arkansas, and Massachusetts.

Asterisks can be used only at the end of a criteria string, or together at both the beginning and end of a criteria string, as shown above. You cannot use the asterisk as a leading wildcard ('*str'), or embedded wildcard ('s*r'). This will cause an error.

Note   An error will occur if a current row position is not set before calling Find. Any method that sets row position, such as MoveFirst, should be called before calling Find.
Note   If you call the Find method on a recordset, and the current position in the recordset is at the last record or end of file (EOF), you will not find anything. You need to call the MoveFirst method to set the current position/cursor to the beginning of the recordset.

See Also

Visual Basic Example

Index Property | Optimize Property—Dynamic (ADO) | Seek Method

Applies To: Recordset Object

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