The LOWER function in Excel is a text function that converts all letters in a text string to lowercase. It takes one argument, which is the text that you want to change. The syntax of the LOWER function is:
=LOWER(text)
For example, if you have the text “HELLO WORLD” in cell A1, you can use the formula =LOWER(A1) to get “hello world” in another cell.
Step by step
To use the LOWER function in Excel, follow these steps:
- Select a cell where you want to enter the formula.
- Type
=LOWER(and select the cell that contains the text that you want to convert to lowercase, or type the text directly within double quotes. For example,=LOWER(A1)or=LOWER("HELLO WORLD"). - Press Enter to complete the formula. The result will be the text in lowercase.
Example
Let’s say you have a list of names in column A, and you want to convert them to lowercase in column B. You can use the LOWER function to do this. Here is how the data looks like:
| Name | Lowercase |
|---|---|
| JOHN SMITH | |
| MARY JONES | |
| PETER LEE |
To convert the names to lowercase, you can use the following formula in cell B2 and copy it down to the rest of the column:
=LOWER(A2)
The result will be:
| Name | Lowercase |
|---|---|
| JOHN SMITH | john smith |
| MARY JONES | mary jones |
| PETER LEE | peter lee |
Other approaches
There are other ways to convert text to lowercase in Excel, such as:
- Using the Flash Fill feature: If you have Excel 2013 or later, you can use the Flash Fill feature to automatically fill in the lowercase text based on a pattern. To do this, type the first lowercase name in cell B2, and then press Ctrl+E. Excel will fill in the rest of the column with the lowercase names.
- Using the Text to Columns feature: You can use the Text to Columns feature to split the names into two columns, and then use the LOWER function on each column. To do this, select the names in column A, and then go to the Data tab and click Text to Columns. In the wizard, choose Delimited and click Next. Then, check the Space option and click Next. Finally, click Finish. You will have the first and last names in separate columns. Then, you can use the LOWER function on each column to get the lowercase names.
- Using the PROPER function: The PROPER function in Excel is a text function that converts the first letter of each word in a text string to uppercase, and the rest to lowercase. You can use the PROPER function to get the proper case names, and then use the LOWER function to convert them to lowercase. For example, you can use the formula
=LOWER(PROPER(A2))to get “john smith” from “JOHN SMITH”.
