Finding information

Often when editing a data set, you need to find a particular word or phrase, such as an inventory number, or a reference to a product. Scrolling through the data set looking for the information can be time consuming and inaccurate.

To have the computer do the searching for you, use the FIND command followed by a string. A string is a word or group of words; in this case, the word or words you want to find. FIND can be abbreviated to F.

Thus to find the string that is the part number JTE1410, enter:

f jte1410

The cursor moves to the first instance of the part number, scrolling if necessary.

If a string contains more than one word, enclose the words in single quotation marks. Thus to find the phrase "generally speaking" enter:

f 'generally speaking'

FIND is often used with the RFIND PF key (PF 5). For more information about the RFIND PF key, see PF keys summary.

Exercise
Display the contents of a data set in an edit session. Enter on the COMMAND line: `f the` The cursor moves to the first occurrence of the word "the" or a word containing the letters "the", such as then, there, or another. Now search for a word that is not likely to exist in the data set, such as "obstreperous". You then see the message: `NO CHARS 'OBSTREPEROUS'`