---

{ “title”: “INITCAP”, “language”: “en”, “description”: “The INITCAP function converts the first letter of each word in a string to uppercase and the remaining letters to lowercase.” }

Description

The INITCAP function converts the first letter of each word in a string to uppercase and the remaining letters to lowercase. A word is defined as a sequence of alphanumeric characters separated by non-alphanumeric characters. This function is suitable for formatting names, titles, and other scenarios requiring standard case formatting.

Syntax

INITCAP(<str>)

Parameters

Parameter	Description
<str>	The string to convert case format. Type: VARCHAR

Return Value

Returns VARCHAR type, representing the converted string.

Conversion rules:

• The first letter of each word is converted to uppercase
• Remaining letters in the word are converted to lowercase
• Words are separated by non-alphanumeric characters (spaces, punctuation, symbols, etc.)
• Numeric characters are not case-converted
• Supports Unicode character case conversion

Special cases:

• If parameter is NULL, returns NULL
• If string is empty, returns empty string
• Consecutive non-alphanumeric characters are treated as a single separator
• Letters at the beginning of the string are capitalized

Examples

1. Basic word capitalization

SELECT INITCAP('hello world');

+------------------------+
| INITCAP('hello world') |
+------------------------+
| Hello World            |
+------------------------+

2. Mixed case conversion

SELECT INITCAP('hELLo WoRLD');

+------------------------+
| INITCAP('hELLo WoRLD') |
+------------------------+
| Hello World            |
+------------------------+

3. NULL value handling

SELECT INITCAP(NULL);

+---------------+
| INITCAP(NULL) |
+---------------+
| NULL          |
+---------------+

4. String with numbers and symbols

SELECT INITCAP('hello hello.,HELLO123HELlo');

+---------------------------------------+
| INITCAP('hello hello.,HELLO123HELlo') |
+---------------------------------------+
| Hello Hello.,Hello123hello            |
+---------------------------------------+