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Excel function · Changing text

UPPER

Turns all letters of a text into capitals.

What it does

UPPER changes every letter to upper case. Digits and punctuation stay as they are. It tidies codes typed in a mix of cases.

Syntax

=UPPER(text)

Arguments in square brackets are optional, and … means you can add more of the same. In this Excel language, arguments are separated by ,

Arguments

text
The text to change, usually a cell.

Example

Someone typed an order code in lower case. How do you put it in the standard form?

AB
1As enteredCleaned
2de-4471DE-4471

The formula in B2:

=UPPER(A2)

Result: DE-4471

de-4471 becomes DE-4471: the two letters change, the hyphen and digits don't.

Common mistakes

  • Expecting the original cell to change. The result appears in the formula's cell; copy it and paste as values to replace the original.
  • Using it to compare texts. Excel's comparisons with = already ignore case.

In other Excel languages

Excel translates function names, and in some languages the argument separator too. Type the name your Excel shows.

Excel languageFunction nameSeparator
EnglishUPPER,
DeutschGROSS;
FrançaisMAJUSCULE;
Español (España)MAYUSC;
Español (México)MAYUSC,
日本語UPPER,
한국어UPPER,
繁體中文UPPER,
ไทยUPPER,
ខ្មែរUPPER,
Tiếng ViệtUPPER;

Practise it

More from this module

All functions