Articles/SQL

LOCATE() in MySQL — How It Works

What the MySQL LOCATE() function does, with an example.

Published October 19, 2026

LOCATE() returns the position of the first occurrence of a substring within a string, or 0 if not found.

Key points

  • Part of standard SQL functions available in MySQL for working with text/strings

Example

SELECT LOCATE('World', 'Hello World');  -- 7
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