What is the difference between indexOf() and search()?

Question

Being fairly new to JavaScript, I\'m unable to discern when to use each of these.

Can anyone help clarify this for me?

Answer 1

Without a regex, there is no practical difference between indexOf and search.

The below example gives a live demo:

function FromSearch() {

  var str = document.getElementById("demo").innerText;
  var n = str.search("difference");
  document.getElementById("Location").innerHTML = n;
}

function FromindexOf() {
  var str = document.getElementById("demo").innerText;
  var n = str.indexOf("difference");
  document.getElementById("Location").innerHTML = n;
}

Without a regex, there is no practical difference between indexOf and search


From search

From indexOf

Location of difference in the above sentence is: