Convert text in PascalCase

Question

Is it possible to convert text from a table column in SQL Server to PascalCase only using a proper SQL code?

TABLE DEFINITION
----------------------
ID  int
CITTA   varchar(50)
PROV    varchar(50)
CAP varchar(50)
COD varchar(50)

The field that contains text to convert is CITTA. It contains all uppercase values like "ABANO TERME", "ROMA", and so on. The words are delimited by a space.

EDIT

I forgot to mention that some words have an accent character in it '. This character can be found either at the end of the word or in the middle.

EDIT 2:

Some quirks found on results:

• If I have a name like "ISOLA BALBA" this name get translated to "IsolaBalba" (correct case but missed space)
• If I have a name like "ISOLA D'ASTI" this get converted to "IsolaD'asti" (missed space as before and incorrect case. In this case the correct result is "Isola D'Asti"

could you please give me some advice on this small problem?

Answer 1

DECLARE @T TABLE
(
ID  INT PRIMARY KEY,
CITTA   VARCHAR(50)
)
INSERT INTO @T
SELECT 1, 'ABANO TERME' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'ROMA' UNION ALL SELECT 3, 'ISOLA D''ASTI';

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#HolderTable') IS NOT NULL
    DROP TABLE #HolderTable

CREATE TABLE #HolderTable
(
Idx INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
ID INT,
Word  VARCHAR(50)
)

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX ix ON #HolderTable(ID)
;

WITH T1 AS
(
SELECT ID, CAST(N'<root><r>' + REPLACE(REPLACE(CITTA, '''', '''</r><r>'), ' ', ' </r><r>') + '</r></root>' AS XML) AS xl
FROM @T
)
INSERT INTO #HolderTable
SELECT ID, 
       r.value('.','NVARCHAR(MAX)') AS Item
 FROM T1
 CROSS APPLY
xl.nodes('//root/r') AS RECORDS(r)

SELECT 
      ID, 
      (SELECT STUFF(LOWER(Word),1,1,UPPER(LEFT(Word,1))) FROM #HolderTable WHERE [@T].ID =  #HolderTable.ID ORDER BY Idx FOR XML PATH('') )
FROM @T [@T]

Answer 2

I encourage you to try the code I posted in a blog a while ago. I suspect it will accommodate your requirements very well, and also perform better than many of the other methods.

SQL Server Proper Case Function

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.Proper(@DATA VARCHAR(8000))
RETURNS VARCHAR(8000)
AS
BEGIN
  DECLARE @Position INT

  SELECT @DATA = STUFF(LOWER(@DATA), 1, 1, UPPER(LEFT(@DATA, 1))),
         @Position = PATINDEX('%[^a-zA-Z][a-z]%', @DATA COLLATE Latin1_General_Bin)

  WHILE @Position > 0
    SELECT @DATA = STUFF(@DATA, @Position, 2, UPPER(SUBSTRING(@DATA, @Position, 2))),
           @Position = PATINDEX('%[^a-zA-Z][a-z]%', @DATA COLLATE Latin1_General_Bin)

  RETURN @DATA
END

This function is a bit faster than most because it only loops once for each word that requires a capital letter.

Answer 3

Try the below function (adjust string type as appropriate). Just don't use this in a WHERE clause - and consider the performance ramifications elsewhere. The 12345678 is just some arbitrarily large value that you might want to replace with something more appropriate!

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.ufn_PascalCase(@str AS VARCHAR(MAX)) RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
BEGIN
    SET @str = LOWER(@str)

    DECLARE @result VARCHAR(MAX) = ''

    DECLARE @spaceIndex INTEGER = CHARINDEX(' ', @str)
    WHILE @spaceIndex > 0
    BEGIN
        SET @result += UPPER(SUBSTRING(@str, 1, 1)) + SUBSTRING(@str, 2, @spaceIndex - 2)
        SET @str = SUBSTRING(@str, @spaceIndex + 1, 12345678)
        SET @spaceIndex = CHARINDEX(' ', @str)
    END

    SET @result += UPPER(SUBSTRING(@str, 1, 1)) + SUBSTRING(@str, 2, 12345678)

    RETURN @result
END