How can I find the first occurrence of a sub-string in a python string?

find()

>>> s = "the dude is a cool dude"
>>> s.find('dude')
4

Quick Overview: index and find

Next to the find method there is as well index. find and index both yield the same result: returning the position of the first occurrence, but if nothing is found index will raise a ValueError whereas find returns -1. Speedwise, both have the same benchmark results.

s.find(t)    #returns: -1, or index where t starts in s
s.index(t)   #returns: Same as find, but raises ValueError if t is not in s

Additional knowledge: rfind and rindex:

In general, find and index return the smallest index where the passed-in string starts, and rfind and rindex return the largest index where it starts Most of the string searching algorithms search from left to right, so functions starting with r indicate that the search happens from right to left.

So in case that the likelihood of the element you are searching is close to the end than to the start of the list, rfind or rindex would be faster.

s.rfind(t)   #returns: Same as find, but searched right to left
s.rindex(t)  #returns: Same as index, but searches right to left

Source: Python: Visual QuickStart Guide, Toby Donaldson