Why IndexOf returns always Zero?

Question

Could someone point me why the IndexOf returns always zero in the following text?

Dim Str as string = "<p><img class=floatLeft width="330"src="http://www.com"></p><p>"
Dim Idx as integer = Str.IndexOf("<p>")

Is there any other way, of getting the index?

Answer 1

Because the first occurrence of <p> is at the beginning of the string, and strings (along with many other things) are zero-indexed.

If you want to get the index of the last-occurring <p>, you can use Str.LastIndexOf("<p>").

If you want to get the index of the next-occurring <p> after the first, and assuming the string always starts with at least one <p>, you can use Str.IndexOf("<p>", "<p>".Length()) so it starts searching from after the first occurrence.

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By the way, you have a syntax error in your Dim Str line, you need to escape double quotes with extra double quotes:

Dim Str as string = "<p><img class=""floatLeft"" width=""330"" src=""http://www.com""></p><p>"