PROPER( ) function

Returns a string with the first character of each word set to uppercase and the remaining characters set to lowercase.

Syntax

PROPER(string)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
string	character	The field, expression, or literal value to convert to proper case.

Output

Character.

Examples

Basic examples

Returns "John Doe":

PROPER("JOHN DOE")

Returns "John Doe":

PROPER("john doe")

Returns "1550 Alberni St.":

PROPER("1550 ALBERNI st.")

Returns "Bill O'Hara":

PROPER("BILL O'HARA")

Returns all the values in the Company_Name field converted to proper case:

PROPER(Company_Name)

Remarks

How it works

The PROPER( ) function converts the first character in string, and any subsequent character preceded by a blank, to uppercase.

Subsequent characters preceded by a hyphen, an apostrophe, an ampersand (&), and several other punctuation marks and special characters are also converted to uppercase. All other alphabetic characters are converted to lowercase.

When to use PROPER( )

The most common use for PROPER( ) is to convert names stored as all uppercase or all lowercase in source data into proper case format, so the name is displayed correctly in a form letter or report.