The Excel PROPER function capitalizes each word in a given text string. Numbers, punctuation, and spaces are not affected
Purpose
Capitalize the first letter in each word
Return value
Text in proper case.
Syntax
=PROPER (text)
Arguments
- text – The text that should be converted to proper case.
Usage notes
The PROPER function capitalizes each word in a given text string. The PROPER function takes just one argument, text, which can be a text value or cell reference. PROPER first lowercase any uppercase letters, then capitalize each word in the provided text string. Numbers, punctuation, and spaces are not affected. PROPER will convert numbers to text with number formatting removed.
Examples
=proper("apple") // returns "Apple"
=proper("APPLE") // returns "Apple"
Numbers or punctuation characters inside a text string are unaffected:
=proper("XYY-020-kwp") // returns "Xyy-020-Kwp"
If a numeric value is given to PROPER, number formatting is removed. For example, if cell A1 contains the date June 26, 2021, date formatting will be lost and PROPER will return a date serial number as text:
=proper(A1) // returns "44373"
Related functions
Use the lower function to convert text to lowercase, use the upper function to convert text to uppercase, and use the proper function to capitalize the words in a text string.
Notes
- Use PROPER to capitalize each word in a given string.
- All words in a text string are capitalized.
- Numbers and punctuation characters are not affected.
- Number formatting is removed from standalone numeric values.