proper

Type

Text Function

Purpose

The proper function converts the first letter in each word in a text value to uppercase.

Syntax

proper( TEXT VALUE)

Returns

The specified text value with the first letter in each word capitalized.

Usage

Any letter preceded by a space, hyphen, ampersand, or a period is capitalized by the proper function as is the first letter in a parenthesized value. Other punctuation, including the apostrophe, does not act as a delimiter for the proper function.

If you enter a capital letter in a position that is not the first letter in the word or specified value, it remains in uppercase when the value is processed by the proper function.

To capitalize the first character of each word and force all other characters to lower-case, use the lower function in conjunction with the proper function as follows:

proper ( lower ( LAST NAME) )

The proper function is commonly entered as the Derivation Formula for Text fields during Form Definition. For example, if the derivation for the LAST NAME field is:

proper(LAST NAME)

DataEase follows the rules listed above to capitalize the values entered in the LAST NAME field.

Examples

proper( "playa blanca" )

Returns: Playa Blanca

proper( "sapphire international" )

Returns: Sapphire International

proper( FULL NAME)

Returns: The value in the FULL NAME field in the proper format for each record processed. For example, if a record contains the value roger birnbaum, the function returns Roger Birnbaum.