In Oracle, the INITCAP() function returns its argument with the first letter of each word in uppercase, and all other letters in lowercase.

For special linguistic requirements for case conversions, you may want to try the NLS_INITCAP() function instead.

Syntax

The syntax goes like this:

INITCAP(char)

Where char can be of any of the data types CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, or NVARCHAR2.

Example

Here’s a simple example to demonstrate:

SELECT INITCAP('ponzi investment house')
FROM DUAL;

Result:

   INITCAP('PONZIINVESTMENTHOUSE') 
__________________________________ 
Ponzi Investment House            

What if I Pass All UPPERCASE Letters?

Passing all uppercase letters doesn’t change the result:

SELECT INITCAP('PONZI INVESTMENT HOUSE')
FROM DUAL;

Result:

   INITCAP('PONZIINVESTMENTHOUSE') 
__________________________________ 
Ponzi Investment House            

Null Values

Passing null returns null:

SET NULL 'null';

SELECT INITCAP(null)
FROM DUAL;

Result:

   INITCAP(NULL) 
________________ 
null            

By default, SQLcl and SQL*Plus return a blank space whenever null occurs as a result of a SQL SELECT statement.

However, you can use SET NULL to specify a different string to be returned. Here I specified that the string null should be returned.

Incorrect Argument Count

Calling INITCAP() without passing any arguments returns an error:

SELECT INITCAP()
FROM DUAL;

Result:

Error starting at line : 1 in command -
SELECT INITCAP()
FROM DUAL
Error at Command Line : 1 Column : 8
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00909: invalid number of arguments
00909. 00000 -  "invalid number of arguments"
*Cause:    
*Action:

And passing the wrong number of arguments results in an error:

SELECT INITCAP('Gosh', 'Dang', 'Investments')
FROM DUAL;

Result:

Error starting at line : 1 in command -
SELECT INITCAP('Gosh', 'Dang', 'Investments')
FROM DUAL
Error at Command Line : 1 Column : 8
Error report -
SQL Error: ORA-00909: invalid number of arguments
00909. 00000 -  "invalid number of arguments"
*Cause:    
*Action: