def _find(seq, val):
    """
    Search sequence 'seq' for val.  This behaves like str.find(): if not found,
    -1 is returned instead of throwing an exception.

    Args:
        seq: The sequence to search
        val: The value to search for

    Returns:
        int: The index of the value if found, or -1 if not found
    """
    try:
        return seq.index(val)
    except ValueError:
        return -1