Changing Case
If you write an application that accepts input from a user, you can never be sure what case he or she will use to enter the data. Because the methods that compare strings and characters are case-sensitive, you should convert the case of strings entered by users before comparing them to constant values. You can easily change the case of a string. The following table describes two case-changing methods. Each method provides an override that accepts a culture.
| Method name | Use |
|---|---|
Converts all characters in a string to uppercase. |
|
Converts all characters in a string to lowercase. |
ToUpper
The String.ToUpper method changes all characters in a string to uppercase. The following example converts the string "Hello World!" from mixed case to uppercase.
Dim MyString As String = "Hello World!"
Console.WriteLine(MyString.ToUpper())
String MyString = "Hello World!";
Console.WriteLine(MyString.ToUpper());
This example displays HELLO WORLD! to the console.
The preceding example is culture-sensitive by default. To perform a culture-insensitive case change, use an overload of the String.Upper method that allows you to specify the culture to use by supplying a culture parameter. For an example that demonstrates how to use the String.Upper method to perform a culture-insensitive case change, see Performing Culture-Insensitive Case Changes.
ToLower
The String.ToLower method is similar to the previous method, but instead converts all the characters in a string to lowercase. The following example converts the string "Hello World!" to lowercase.
Dim MyString As String = "Hello World!"
Console.WriteLine(MyString.ToLower())
String MyString = "Hello World!";
Console.WriteLine(MyString.ToLower());
This example displays hello world! to the console.
The preceding example is culture-sensitive by default. To perform a culture-insensitive case change, use an overload of the String.Lower method that allows you to specify the culture to use by supplying a culture parameter. For an example that demonstrates how to use the String.Lower method to perform a culture-insensitive case change, see Performing Culture-Insensitive Case Changes.
See Also
Other Resources
Basic String Operations
Performing Culture-Insensitive String Operations