Is there a simple way to convert MySQL data into Title Case?

Question

I have a MySQL table where all the data in one column was entered in UPPERCASE, but I need to convert in to Title Case, with recognition of \"small words\" akin to the Darin

Answer 1

you could do this with concat(), substring(), and length() but I can only see it working for one word. Is there a specific reason why you can't do this in your application's code, instead of mysql?

Answer 2

The definitive case to look for such a function is in the documentation.

Unfortunately, you've got LOWER() and UPPER() functions, but no Title Case. Your best bet would be to declare your own function that splits on spaces, ignores your small words, and does an UPPER on the first character of each remaining word.

Answer 3

This is working for me In My SQL 5.0

      DELIMITER |
       CREATE FUNCTION CamelCase(str VARCHAR(8000))
       RETURNS VARCHAR(8000) 
          BEGIN
            DECLARE result VARCHAR(8000);
            SET str = CONCAT(' ',str,' ');
            SET result = '';
            WHILE LENGTH(str) > 1 DO
               SET str = SUBSTR(str,INSTR(str,' ')+1,LENGTH(str));
               SET result = CONCAT(result,UPPER(LEFT(str,1)), LOWER(SUBSTR(str,2,INSTR(str,' ') - 1)) )  ;
               SET str = SUBSTR(str,INSTR(str,' '),LENGTH(str));  
           END WHILE;
        RETURN result;
      END 
     |
     DELIMITER ;

Answer 4

The answer is going to depend on what type of data is in the column, i.e. is it people names, place names, book titles, etc. If you are looking for a SQL solution, I would do it in multiple updates, for example:

1. Initial string is: "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD"
2. Convert to initial caps: "To Kill A Mockingbird"
3. Convert small words to lower case if they do not start the string: "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Answer 5

If you need to throw custom acronyms and other custom capitalisation patterns into the mix I've generalised hobodave's answer:

DELIMITER |
CREATE FUNCTION replaceword( str VARCHAR(128), word VARCHAR(128) )
RETURNS VARCHAR(128)
DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN
  DECLARE loc INT;
  DECLARE punct CHAR(27) DEFAULT ' ()[]{},.-_!@;:?/''"#$%^&*<>'; 
  DECLARE lowerWord VARCHAR(128);
  DECLARE lowerStr VARCHAR(128);

  IF LENGTH(word) = 0 THEN
    RETURN str;
  END IF;
  SET lowerWord = LOWER(word);
  SET lowerStr = LOWER(str);
  SET loc = LOCATE(lowerWord, lowerStr, 1);
  WHILE loc > 0 DO
    IF loc = 1 OR LOCATE(SUBSTRING(str, loc-1, 1), punct) > 0 THEN
      IF loc+LENGTH(word) > LENGTH(str) OR LOCATE(SUBSTRING(str, loc+LENGTH(word), 1), punct) > 0 THEN
        SET str = INSERT(str,loc,LENGTH(word),word);
      END IF;
    END IF;
    SET loc = LOCATE(lowerWord, lowerStr, loc+LENGTH(word));
  END WHILE;
  RETURN str;
END;
|
DELIMITER ;

DELIMITER | 
CREATE FUNCTION tcase( str VARCHAR(128) ) 
RETURNS VARCHAR(128)
DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN 
  DECLARE c CHAR(1); 
  DECLARE s VARCHAR(128); 
  DECLARE i INT DEFAULT 1; 
  DECLARE bool INT DEFAULT 1; 
  DECLARE punct CHAR(27) DEFAULT ' ()[]{},.-_!@;:?/''"#$%^&*<>'; 

  SET s = LCASE( str ); 
  WHILE i <= LENGTH( str ) DO
    BEGIN 
      SET c = SUBSTRING( s, i, 1 ); 
      IF LOCATE( c, punct ) > 0 THEN 
        SET bool = 1; 
      ELSEIF bool=1 THEN  
        BEGIN 
          IF c >= 'a' AND c <= 'z' THEN  
            BEGIN 
              SET s = CONCAT(LEFT(s,i-1),UCASE(c),SUBSTRING(s,i+1)); 
              SET bool = 0; 
            END; 
          ELSEIF c >= '0' AND c <= '9' THEN 
            SET bool = 0; 
          END IF; 
        END; 
      END IF; 
      SET i = i+1; 
    END; 
  END WHILE;

  SET s = replaceword(s, 'a');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'an');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'and');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'as');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'at');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'but');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'by');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'for');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'if');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'in');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'n');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'of');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'on');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'or');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'the');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'to');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'via');

  SET s = replaceword(s, 'RSS');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'URL');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'PHP');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'SQL');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'OPML');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'DHTML');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'CSV');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'iCal');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'XML');
  SET s = replaceword(s, 'PDF');

  SET c = SUBSTRING( s, 1, 1 ); 
  IF c >= 'a' AND c <= 'z' THEN  
      SET s = CONCAT(UCASE(c),SUBSTRING(s,2)); 
  END IF; 

  RETURN s; 
END; 
| 
DELIMITER ;

Essentially it consists of a case-insensitive word replace function and a function to capitalise the first letter of every word and perform some transforms for specific words.

Hope its helpful to someone.