Tolower

tolower transforms the upper case letters in a string into lower case letters. The other characters remain unchanged.

Syntax

   tolower(STRING_EXPR)

• STRING_EXPR is an expression returning a string or a CLOB variable.

Examples

   # Let's transform lowercase to uppercase
   SOFT_MESSAGE=tolower("PLEASE BE QUIET!") : # Returns "please be quiet!"
   # Let's compare strings independently from the case
    If tolower(NAME_1) = tolower(NAME_2)
       # The two names are identical
    Endif
   # Let's compare strings independently from the case and the accents
    If tolower(ctrans(NAME_1)) = tolower(ctrans(NAME_2))
       # The two names are identical
    Endif
   # Let's do it with a (French) accentuated message
   SOFT_MESSAGE=tolower("S'IL VOUS PLAÎT, ARRÊTEZ CE BRUIT Ô COMBIEN INSENSÉ")
   # returns "s'il vous plaît, arrêtez ce bruit ô combien insensé"

Description

tolower transforms the upper case characters, including the accentuated letters, in the corresponding lower case characters without changing the other characters.

The function ctrans can be used if you want to suppress the accents prior to using the tolower function.

The type of result is a Char or Clbfile depending on the length of the string.

Comments

The format$ used with a format that contains only "a", will also perform a tolower transformation, with the following differences:
* The length of the resulting string will be constant and can include trailing spaces.
* If characters that are not letters are present, the formatting will globally replace the string by a string filled with spaces. This will also be the case for accentuated character that are refused by "a" format.

Associated errors

Error code	Description
10	The argument is not a string or a CLOB.

See also

toupper, format$, ctrans.