---
title: "LOWER (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs"
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ms.date: "03/13/2017"
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  - "LOWER"
  - "LOWER_TSQL"
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  - "TSQL"
helpviewer_keywords: 
  - "characters [SQL Server], lowercase"
  - "LOWER function"
  - "uppercase characters [SQL Server]"
  - "characters [SQL Server], uppercase"
  - "lowercase characters"
  - "converting uppercase to lowercase characters"
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---
# LOWER (Transact-SQL)
[!INCLUDE[tsql-appliesto-ss2008-all_md](../../includes/tsql-appliesto-ss2008-all-md.md)]

  Returns a character expression after converting uppercase character data to lowercase.  
  
 ![Topic link icon](../../database-engine/configure-windows/media/topic-link.gif "Topic link icon") [Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions](../../t-sql/language-elements/transact-sql-syntax-conventions-transact-sql.md)  
  
## Syntax  
  
```  
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse  
  
LOWER ( character_expression )  
```  
  
## Arguments  
 *character_expression*  
 Is an [expression](../../t-sql/language-elements/expressions-transact-sql.md) of character or binary data. *character_expression* can be a constant, variable, or column. *character_expression* must be of a data type that is implicitly convertible to **varchar**. Otherwise, use [CAST](../../t-sql/functions/cast-and-convert-transact-sql.md) to explicitly convert *character_expression*.  
  
## Return Types  
 **varchar** or **nvarchar**  
  
## Examples  
 The following example uses the `LOWER` function, the `UPPER` function, and nests the `UPPER` function inside the `LOWER` function in selecting product names that have prices between $11 and $20. This example uses the [!INCLUDE[ssSampleDBnormal](../../includes/sssampledbnormal-md.md)] database.  
  
```  
SELECT LOWER(SUBSTRING(Name, 1, 20)) AS Lower,   
   UPPER(SUBSTRING(Name, 1, 20)) AS Upper,   
   LOWER(UPPER(SUBSTRING(Name, 1, 20))) As LowerUpper  
FROM Production.Product  
WHERE ListPrice between 11.00 and 20.00;  
GO  
```  
  
 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  
  
 `Lower                    Upper                    LowerUpper`  
  
 `---------------------    ---------------------    --------------------`  
  
 `minipump                 MINIPUMP                 minipump`  
  
 `taillights - battery     TAILLIGHTS - BATTERY     taillights - battery`  
  
 `(2 row(s) affected)`  
  
## Examples: [!INCLUDE[ssSDWfull](../../includes/sssdwfull-md.md)] and [!INCLUDE[ssPDW](../../includes/sspdw-md.md)]  
 The following example uses the `LOWER` function, the `UPPER` function, and nests the `UPPER` function inside the `LOWER` function in selecting product names that have prices between $11 and $20.  
  
```  
-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT LOWER(SUBSTRING(EnglishProductName, 1, 20)) AS Lower,   
       UPPER(SUBSTRING(EnglishProductName, 1, 20)) AS Upper,   
       LOWER(UPPER(SUBSTRING(EnglishProductName, 1, 20))) As LowerUpper  
FROM dbo.DimProduct  
WHERE ListPrice between 11.00 and 20.00;  
  
```  
  
 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  
  
 `Lower                 Upper                  LowerUpper`  
  
 `--------------------  ---------------------  --------------------`  
  
 `minipump              MINIPUMP               minipump`  
  
 `taillights – battery  TAILLIGHTS – BATTERY   taillights - battery`  
  
## See Also  
 [Data Types (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/data-types/data-types-transact-sql.md)   
 [String Functions (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/string-functions-transact-sql.md)