In SQL Server, you can convert any lowercase string to uppercase by using the UPPER() function.

To use it, simply pass the string as an argument when calling the function.

Syntax

Here’s the official syntax:

UPPER ( character_expression )

Where character_expression is an expression of character or binary data. This can be a constant, variable, or column. It must be of a data type that is implicitly convertible to varchar. If not, you can use the CAST() function to convert it.

Example

Here’s an example of UPPER() in action:

SELECT UPPER('louder please');

Result:

LOUDER PLEASE

And we get the same result even if the original string already contains uppercase characters:

SELECT UPPER('Louder Please');

Result:

LOUDER PLEASE

Database Example

Here’s an example that returns data from a database and converts it to uppercase:

USE Music;
SELECT TOP 5
    AlbumName AS Original, 
    UPPER(AlbumName) AS Uppercase
FROM Albums;

Result:

Original                Uppercase             
----------------------  ----------------------
Powerslave              POWERSLAVE            
Powerage                POWERAGE              
Singing Down the Lane   SINGING DOWN THE LANE 
Ziltoid the Omniscient  ZILTOID THE OMNISCIENT
Casualties of Cool      CASUALTIES OF COOL    

You can also use LOWER() in the same way to convert a string expression to lowercase.