I am a begginging electrician I was trying to find the breaker to a circuit and I took the switch wires and cause a direct short , the lights went out, but the breaker did not trip and I can't seem to find the problem also the main breaker was arcing as I turn it on an off

Sometimes a breaker will trip but not throw. You should avoid shorting to ground to trip Breaker(unless I'm reading wrong). It can blow open a bad connection(maybe a good thing)?
Verify you have voltage out from all breakers.

Yet another duplicate thread.

Here is the other: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/electr...ts-205838.html