SQL Server: Make all UPPER case to Proper Case/Title Case

This function:

• "Proper Cases" all "UPPER CASE" words that are delimited by white space
• leaves "lower case words" alone
• works properly even for non-English alphabets
• is portable in that it does not use fancy features of recent SQL server versions
• can be easily changed to use NCHAR and NVARCHAR for unicode support,as well as any parameter length you see fit
• white space definition can be configured

CREATE FUNCTION ToProperCase(@string VARCHAR(255)) RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
AS
BEGIN
  DECLARE @i INT           -- index
  DECLARE @l INT           -- input length
  DECLARE @c NCHAR(1)      -- current char
  DECLARE @f INT           -- first letter flag (1/0)
  DECLARE @o VARCHAR(255)  -- output string
  DECLARE @w VARCHAR(10)   -- characters considered as white space

  SET @w = '[' + CHAR(13) + CHAR(10) + CHAR(9) + CHAR(160) + ' ' + ']'
  SET @i = 1
  SET @l = LEN(@string)
  SET @f = 1
  SET @o = ''

  WHILE @i <= @l
  BEGIN
    SET @c = SUBSTRING(@string, @i, 1)
    IF @f = 1 
    BEGIN
     SET @o = @o + @c
     SET @f = 0
    END
    ELSE
    BEGIN
     SET @o = @o + LOWER(@c)
    END

    IF @c LIKE @w SET @f = 1

    SET @i = @i + 1
  END

  RETURN @o
END

Result:

dbo.ToProperCase('ALL UPPER CASE and    SOME lower ÄÄ ÖÖ ÜÜ ÉÉ ØØ ĈĈ ÆÆ')
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All Upper Case and      Some lower Ää Öö Üü Éé Øø Cc Ææ

Here's a UDF that will do the trick...

create function ProperCase(@Text as varchar(8000))
returns varchar(8000)
as
begin
  declare @Reset bit;
  declare @Ret varchar(8000);
  declare @i int;
  declare @c char(1);

  if @Text is null
    return null;

  select @Reset = 1, @i = 1, @Ret = '';

  while (@i <= len(@Text))
    select @c = substring(@Text, @i, 1),
      @Ret = @Ret + case when @Reset = 1 then UPPER(@c) else LOWER(@c) end,
      @Reset = case when @c like '[a-zA-Z]' then 0 else 1 end,
      @i = @i + 1
  return @Ret
end

You will still have to use it to update your data though.

UPDATE titles
  SET title =
      UPPER(LEFT(title, 1)) +
        LOWER(RIGHT(title, LEN(title) - 1))

http://sqlmag.com/t-sql/how-title-case-column-value

If you can enable the CLR in SQL Server (requires 2005 or later) then you could create a CLR function that uses the TextInfo.ToTitleCase built-in function which would allow you to create a culture-aware way of doing this in only a few lines of code.

I know this is late post in this thread but, worth looking. This function works for me ever time. So thought of sharing it.

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnConvert_TitleCase] (@InputString VARCHAR(4000) )
RETURNS VARCHAR(4000)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @Index INT
DECLARE @Char CHAR(1)
DECLARE @OutputString VARCHAR(255)

SET @OutputString = LOWER(@InputString)
SET @Index = 2
SET @OutputString = STUFF(@OutputString, 1, 1,UPPER(SUBSTRING(@InputString,1,1)))

WHILE @Index <= LEN(@InputString)
BEGIN
    SET @Char = SUBSTRING(@InputString, @Index, 1)
    IF @Char IN (' ', ';', ':', '!', '?', ',', '.', '_', '-', '/', '&','''','(')
    IF @Index + 1 <= LEN(@InputString)
BEGIN
    IF @Char != ''''
    OR
    UPPER(SUBSTRING(@InputString, @Index + 1, 1)) != 'S'
    SET @OutputString =
    STUFF(@OutputString, @Index + 1, 1,UPPER(SUBSTRING(@InputString, @Index + 1, 1)))
END
    SET @Index = @Index + 1
END

RETURN ISNULL(@OutputString,'')
END

Test calls:

select dbo.fnConvert_TitleCase(Upper('ÄÄ ÖÖ ÜÜ ÉÉ ØØ ĈĈ ÆÆ')) as test
select dbo.fnConvert_TitleCase(upper('Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. – Napoleon hill')) as test

Results: