Excel Function: PROPER

Purpose

The PROPER function transforms the first letter of every word in a text value into upper case, and transforms every other letter into lower case. Its output is always a value of type text. The PROPER function defines a word to be a sequence of characters whose boundaries are delineated by any two of:

the beginning of a text value.
the end of a text value.
a non-letter character, such as a space or a number.

Invocations of the PROPER function take the form:

PROPER(text)

Arguments

Argument	Argument type	Description
text	Mandatory	A text value whose words will be transformed by the PROPER function.

Related Functions

Function	Example	Purpose

Error Conditions

Error value	Condition type	Condition
#VALUE!	Bad argument	A value of type currency, geography, or stock was supplied to the text argument.

Examples

Example	Formula	Result	Description
1	`=PROPER("loReM iPsUm dOlOr")`	`Lorem Ipsum Dolor`	Apply the PROPER function to mixed-case text using the space character as a delimiter. The first letter of every word is capitalized. Every other letter is transformed into lower case.
2	`=PROPER("loReM/iPsUm?dOlOr")`	`Lorem/Ipsum?Dolor`	Apply the PROPER function to mixed-case text using “?” and “/” as word delimiters. “?” and “/” are identified as word delimiters. The first letter of every word is capitalized. Every other letter is transformed into lower case. “?” and “/” appear in the result.
3	`=PROPER("loReM1iPsUm2dOlOr")`	`Lorem1Ipsum2Dolor`	Apply the PROPER function to mixed-case text using numbers as word delimiters. “1” and “2” are identified as word delimiters. The first letter of every word is capitalized. Every other letter is transformed into lower case. “1” and “2” appear in the result.

Examples: Errors

Example	Value supplied to “text” argument	Result	Description
1	`MICROSOFT CORPORATION (XNAS:MSFT)`	`#VALUE!`	Apply the PROPER function to a stock value. The stock value cannot be treated as a text value by the PROPER function. Because of this, the #VALUE! error value is returned.
2	`USD/GBP`	`#VALUE!`	Apply the PROPER function to a currency value. The currency value cannot be treated as a text value by the PROPER function. Because of this, the #VALUE! error value is returned.
3	`Sydney`	`#VALUE!`	Apply the PROPER function to a geography value. The geography value cannot be treated as a text value by the PROPER function. Because of this, the #VALUE! error value is returned.

These errors can be mitigated by converting values of type stock, currency and geography to text before passing them to the PROPER function. I.e.:

=PROPER(VALUETOTEXT(text))