MySQL - Capitalize first letter of each word, in existing table

Question

I have an existing table 'people_table', with a field full_name.

Many records have the 'full_name' field populated with incorrect casing. e.g. 'fred Jones' or 'fred jones' or 'Fred jones'.

I can find these errant entries with:

SELECT * FROM people_table WHERE full_name REGEXP BINARY '^[a-z]';

How can I capitalize the first letter of each word found? e.g. 'fred jones' becomes 'Fred Jones'.

Answer 1

There's no MySQL function to do that, you have to write your own. In the following link there's an implementation:

http://joezack.com/index.php/2008/10/20/mysql-capitalize-function/

In order to use it, first you need to create the function in the database. You can do this, for example, using MySQL Query Browser (right-click the database name and select Create new Function).

After creating the function, you can update the values in the table with a query like this:

UPDATE users SET name = CAP_FIRST(name);

Answer 2

If you need to run it just one time, and you don't want to create a function, you can do something really-harcoded as:

UPDATE people_table SET full_name = LOWER(full_name);
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = CONCAT(UPPER(SUBSTR(full_name,1,1)),LOWER(SUBSTR(full_name,2)));
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' a',' A');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' b',' B');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' c',' C');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' d',' D');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' e',' E');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' f',' F');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' g',' G');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' h',' H');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' i',' I');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' j',' J');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' k',' K');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' l',' L');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' m',' M');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' n',' N');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' o',' O');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' p',' P');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' q',' Q');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' r',' R');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' s',' S');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' t',' T');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' u',' U');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' v',' V');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' w',' W');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' x',' X');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' y',' Y');
UPDATE people_table SET full_name = REPLACE(full_name,' z',' Z');

Answer 3

If you want to capitalize all words, it will be needed to invoke a custom function.

-- may help:
-- DROP function if exists capitalize;

DELIMITER $$
CREATE FUNCTION `capitalize`(s varchar(255)) RETURNS varchar(255) 
BEGIN
  declare c int;
  declare x varchar(255);
  declare y varchar(255);
  declare z varchar(255);

  set x = UPPER( SUBSTRING( s, 1, 1));
  set y = SUBSTR( s, 2);
  set c = instr( y, ' ');

  while c > 0
    do
      set z = SUBSTR( y, 1, c);
      set x = CONCAT( x, z);
      set z = UPPER( SUBSTR( y, c+1, 1));
      set x = CONCAT( x, z);
      set y = SUBSTR( y, c+2);
      set c = INSTR( y, ' ');     
  end while;
  set x = CONCAT(x, y);
  return x;
END$$

DELIMITER ;

Now you do this way:

 UPDATE mytable SET thefield = capitalize(thefield);

Answer 4

I tried the code from above but had syntax errors on function, so could not create it. Wrote this for latest version of MySQL if it helps anyone

CREATE FUNCTION  `CAP_FIRST`(input VARCHAR(255)) RETURNS varchar(255) CHARSET latin1
    DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN
    DECLARE len INT;
    DECLARE i INT;
    DECLARE charnum INT;
    declare SortedName varchar(255);

    SET len   = CHAR_LENGTH(input);
    SET input = LOWER(input);
    SET i = 1;
    set charnum = 1;
    set SortedName = '';


    WHILE (i <= len) DO
        if charnum = 1 then
            set SortedName = concat(SortedName,upper(mid(input,i,1)));
            set charnum = charnum + 1;
        else
            if mid(input,i,1) = ' ' then
                set SortedName = concat(SortedName,' ');
                set charnum = 1;
            else
                set SortedName = concat(SortedName,mid(input,i,1));
                set charnum = charnum + 1;
            end if;

        end if;


        SET i = i + 1;
    END WHILE;

    RETURN SortedName;
END

Answer 5

DELIMITER $$
CREATE FUNCTION `capitalize`(s varchar(255)) RETURNS varchar(255) 
BEGIN
  declare c int;
  declare x varchar(255);
  declare y varchar(255);
  declare z varchar(255);

  set x = UPPER( SUBSTRING( s, 1, 1));
  set y = lower(SUBSTR( s, 2));
  set c = instr( y, ' ');

  while c > 0
    do
      set z = SUBSTR( y, 1, c);
      set x = CONCAT( x, z);
      set z = UPPER( SUBSTR( y, c+1, 1));
      set x = CONCAT( x, z);
      set y = SUBSTR( y, c+2);
      set c = INSTR( y, ' ');     
  end while;
  set x = CONCAT(x, y);
  return x;
END$$

DELIMITER ;

Create above function to set First character to capital of each words

Answer 6

Here are two useful functions by Nicholas Thompson. You can set the 3rd variable of UC_DELEMITER to false, and the second to " " for the capitalization of more than one word.

UC_FIRST Capitalize any given string - This function is a clone of the ucfirst function in PHP.

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS UC_FIRST;
CREATE FUNCTION UC_FIRST(oldWord VARCHAR(255)) RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
RETURN CONCAT(UCASE(SUBSTRING(oldWord, 1, 1)),SUBSTRING(oldWord, 2));

UC_DELIMITER Capitalize with a delimiter in between words

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS UC_DELIMITER;
DELIMITER //
CREATE FUNCTION UC_DELIMITER(
   oldName VARCHAR(255), delim VARCHAR(1), trimSpaces BOOL
) 
  RETURNS VARCHAR(255)
BEGIN
SET @oldString := oldName;
SET @newString := "";

tokenLoop: LOOP
    IF trimSpaces THEN SET @oldString := TRIM(BOTH " " FROM @oldString);          END IF;

SET @splitPoint := LOCATE(delim, @oldString);

IF @splitPoint = 0 THEN
  SET @newString := CONCAT(@newString, UC_FIRST(@oldString));
  LEAVE tokenLoop;
END IF;

   SET @newString := CONCAT(@newString, UC_FIRST(SUBSTRING(@oldString, 1, @splitPoint)));
   SET @oldString := SUBSTRING(@oldString, @splitPoint+1);
END LOOP tokenLoop;

RETURN @newString;
END//
DELIMITER ;

Examples:

SELECT UC_DELIMITER('eric-leroy','-',TRUE);
Eric-Leroy  

Function's Webpage

Answer 7

The Proper function in Excel (or google sheets does exactly what you want.

So, export your mysql table as CSV and into Excel (or google sheets). Then use the = Proper(*text_to_capitalize*) to capitalize the first letter of each word.

Then just export that excel sheet as CSV back into your database.

Answer 8

If you are using PHP then...

try{
  $con = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=dbasename", "root", "");
}
catch(PDOException $e){
  echo "error" . $e-getMessage();
}

$select = $con->prepare("SELECT * FROM table");
$select->setFetchMode(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
$select->execute();

while($data=$select->fetch()) {

  $id = $data['id'];
  $column = $data['column'];
  $column = ucwords(strtolower($column)); // Capitalize each word

  $update = $con->prepare("UPDATE table SET column=:column WHERE id='$id'");
  $update->bindParam(':column', $column);
  $update->execute();
}

Answer 9

Simply :

SELECT
CONCAT(UCASE(LEFT(firstname, 1)), LCASE(SUBSTRING(firstname, 2))) as firstname
FROM PEOPLE

Answer 10

No need for creating a function if it is a one timer. The below works just fine:

-- Capitalize first letter of each word in r.name field
SELECT TRIM(CONCAT(
   CONCAT(UPPER(SUBSTRING(cname1,1,1)),SUBSTRING(cname1,2)) , " ",
   CONCAT(UPPER(SUBSTRING(cname2,1,1)),SUBSTRING(cname2,2)) , " ",
   CONCAT(UPPER(SUBSTRING(cname3,1,1)),SUBSTRING(cname3,2))))
FROM (
   SELECT
     @num_spaces := 1 + LENGTH(c_name) - LENGTH(REPLACE(c_name, ' ', '')) AS 
     num_spaces,
     SUBSTRING_INDEX(CONVERT(c_name,CHAR), ' ', 1) AS cname1,
     IF(@num_spaces > 1, SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(c_name, ' ', 2), ' ', -1), '') AS cname2,
     IF(@num_spaces > 2, SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(c_name, ' ', 3), ' ', -1), '') AS cname3
     FROM (SELECT (CASE 
        WHEN UPPER(r.name)COLLATE latin1_general_cs =r.name THEN LOWER(TRIM(r.name))
        ELSE TRIM(r.name)
        END) AS c_name,r.name
        FROM table r) cr) ncr;

NOTE: The IF clause should be equal to or more than the value of @num_spaces. The current sql will take care of at max 3 words. You may add more if required.

Answer 11

on phpmyadmin, run this UPDATE table_name SET Column_Name = LOWER(Column_Name) then in the html page that displays the data from the database table use css text-transform: capitalize;