FORMULA & SQL / TEXT
Capitalise the first letter only.
Tested, not guessed.
The Excel and Google Sheets formula and the SQL query, each run on the rows below. Open this with your own data ↗
The example rows
| Row | A: Region | B: Rep | C: Amount | D: Order Date | E: Status | F: Customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | North | Ana | 1,200 | 2026-03-01 | Paid | Jo Smith |
| 3 | South | Ben | 450 | 2026-03-15 | Open | Raj Patel |
| 4 | North | Cy | 300 | 2026-04-02 | Paid | Lee Wong |
| 5 | East | Ana | 980.50 | 2026-04-20 | Paid | Mia Ross |
| 6 | North | Ben | 75 | 2026-05-05 | Open | Jo Smith |
| 7 | West | Dee | 1,640 | 2026-05-18 | Paid | Sam Okoro |
The formula
Excel
=UPPER(LEFT(A2,1))&LOWER(MID(A2,2,LEN(A2)))
The first 1 characters of Region (A2) in upper case joined with the length of Region (A2) characters of Region (A2), starting at character 2 in lower case.
Run on the example rows:
| Row | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | North |
| 3 | South |
| 4 | North |
| 5 | East |
| 6 | North |
| 7 | West |
The SQL
PostgreSQL
SELECT *, UPPER(LEFT(region, 1)) || LOWER(SUBSTR(region, 2)) AS sentence_case FROM sales
Run on the example rows:
| region | rep | amount | order_date | status | customer | sentence_case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | Ana | 1200 | 2026-03-01 | Paid | Jo Smith | North |
| South | Ben | 450 | 2026-03-15 | Open | Raj Patel | South |
| North | Cy | 300 | 2026-04-02 | Paid | Lee Wong | North |
| East | Ana | 980.5 | 2026-04-20 | Paid | Mia Ross | East |
| North | Ben | 75 | 2026-05-05 | Open | Jo Smith | North |
| West | Dee | 1640 | 2026-05-18 | Paid | Sam Okoro | West |
Other databases
MySQL
SELECT *, CONCAT(UPPER(LEFT(region, 1)), LOWER(SUBSTR(region, 2))) AS sentence_case FROM sales
SQL Server
SELECT *, CONCAT(UPPER(LEFT(region, 1)), LOWER(SUBSTRING(region, 2, LEN(region)))) AS sentence_case FROM sales
SQLite
SELECT *, UPPER(substr(region, 1, 1)) || LOWER(substr(region, 2)) AS sentence_case FROM sales
BigQuery
SELECT *, CONCAT(UPPER(LEFT(region, 1)), LOWER(SUBSTR(region, 2))) AS sentence_case FROM sales
Snowflake
SELECT *, UPPER(LEFT(region, 1)) || LOWER(SUBSTR(region, 2)) AS sentence_case FROM sales
Your own data
Paste your rows into the free tool and it writes this for your columns, then runs it on your data before you copy it. Open the tool ↗