Option Explicit
Rem This example selects all text art that containt the text in the
Rem targetString variable. Change the search string in targetString
Rem and add your own text items to the document as needed.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim appRef As New Illustrator.Application
    Dim docRef As Illustrator.Document
    Dim textArt As Illustrator.TextArtItem
    Dim targetString As String
    
    If (appRef.Documents.Count = 0) Then
      Set docRef = appRef.Documents.Add()
    Else
      Set docRef = appRef.ActiveDocument
    End If
    
    If (docRef.TextArtItems.Count = 0) Then
      Set textArt = docRef.TextArtItems.Add()
      textArt.Position = Array(100, 425)
      textArt.Contents = "Illustrator Scripting"
      textArt.TextRange().Size = 48
    End If
    
    targetString = "Scripting"
    
    Rem Clear the old selection (if any)
    docRef.Selection = Empty
    
    Rem select all text art items that contains the target string
    For Each textArt In docRef.TextArtItems
        If (InStr(textArt.Contents, targetString) > 0) Then
            textArt.Selected = True
        End If
    Next
End Sub