# How can we help?

## Overview

The `strContains` utility can be used to find a string of characters within another string of characters.

## Examples

Our example uses the utility to check if `fire` exists in `firestorm`, and then prints the result with an `{if}` statement.

- **Used in:** `  Message automations` `  Data automations`
- **Syntax:** `{$utils->strContains($lookup_str*, $string*, $caseSensitive)}`

```
{$contains.lookup_str = 'Fire'}
{$contains.string = 'firestorm'}
{$contains.caseSensitive = true}

{if $utils->strContains($contains.lookup_str, $contains.string, $contains.caseSensitive)}
  {$contains.found = true}
{else}
  {$contains.found = false}
{/if}

{$utils->jsonPrettyPrint($contains)}
```

```
{
  "lookup_str": "Fire",
  "caseSensitive": true,
  "found": false
}
```

| Parameter | Description | Required | Expected | Default |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| lookup\_str | String of characters to be searched for. | required | String | NA |
| string | Given string to be checked for the specified lookup\_str. | required | String | NA |
| caseSensitive | Determines if the search should adhere to letter casing (true or false). | optional | Boolean string | true |

To test the above example in your account, paste the code into your message HTML or Sculpt Block and click the **Preview** button.

## Use case

You can use the `strContains` utility to check whether a contact's attribute contains a certain string. This is useful if you have data that is non-normalized.

For example, if you have a contact attribute of `companyname` with non-normalized values such as: Threads Clothing, Threads Inc, threads, threads.com, you can use the string contains utility to find if company name contains the word `threads` and then render content in a message based on the result.

```
{$threads = $utils->strContains('threads',{$contact.companyname}, false)}
{if $threads}Threads content{/if}
```

Threads content