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char.ToLower and ToUpper
This page was last reviewed on Jan 30, 2024.
Dot Net Perls
Char.ToLower, ToUpper. ToLower converts only uppercase letters. It changes uppercase letters to lowercase letters. It leaves all other characters unchanged.
C# method info. ToLower and ToUpper are ideal for character conversions. These methods are included in .NET, and act on all characters in a reliable way.
char
String ToLower, ToUpper
Input and output. Consider the uppercase letter "A." This has the ASCII value 65. When lowercased, it equals "a" which is ASCII 97.
A (65) a (97)
An example. Here we see char.ToLower. This converts uppercase characters to lowercase characters, while not changing characters that are already lowercase or digits.
Part 1 The 4 calls to char.ToLower show how this static method is used. And the comments show the values returned.
Part 2 The 4 calls to char.ToUpper show how this method is used. The result from each call is shown.
Part 3 We print the results to the console with several calls to Console.WriteLine.
Console.WriteLine
using System; char c1 = 'a'; // Lowercase a char c2 = 'b'; // Lowercase b char c3 = 'C'; // Uppercase C char c4 = '3'; // Digit 3 // Part 1: use char.ToLower. char lower1 = char.ToLower(c1); // a char lower2 = char.ToLower(c2); // b char lower3 = char.ToLower(c3); // c [changed] char lower4 = char.ToLower(c4); // 3 // Part 2: use char.ToUpper. char upper1 = char.ToUpper(c1); // A [changed] char upper2 = char.ToUpper(c2); // B [changed] char upper3 = char.ToUpper(c3); // C char upper4 = char.ToUpper(c4); // 3 // Part 3: write results. Console.WriteLine(c1 + "," + c2 + "," + c3 + "," + c4); Console.WriteLine(lower1 + "," + lower2 + "," + lower3 + "," + lower4); Console.WriteLine(upper1 + "," + upper2 + "," + upper3 + "," + upper4);
a,b,C,3 a,b,c,3 A,B,C,3
IsLower, IsUpper. Sometimes we need to first test if a character is lowercase or uppercase. The char.IsLower and IsUpper methods in C# help here.
using System; string test = "AxZ"; // Call IsLower and IsUpper in loop. foreach (char value in test) { if (char.IsLower(value)) { Console.WriteLine("LOWER"); } else if (char.IsUpper(value)) { Console.WriteLine("UPPER"); } }
UPPER LOWER UPPER
InvariantCulture. These 2 methods use the CultureInfo.InvariantCulture parameter internally. The letters are lowercased and uppercased the same in all globalization settings.
Performance notes. Finally, the char.ToLower and char.ToUpper methods have worse performance than a custom method that tests ASCII values. It can be worthwhile to use a custom method.
Summary. Programs that handle characters can benefit from char.ToLower and char.ToUpper. These are simple but useful methods, ready to call with no extra code.
Dot Net Perls is a collection of tested code examples. Pages are continually updated to stay current, with code correctness a top priority.
Sam Allen is passionate about computer languages. In the past, his work has been recommended by Apple and Microsoft and he has studied computers at a selective university in the United States.
This page was last updated on Jan 30, 2024 (edit).
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