Summary

The Excel UPPER function converts a text string to all uppercase letters. Numbers, punctuation, and spaces are not affected.

Purpose 

Convert text to upper case

Return value 

Uppercase text.

Syntax

=UPPER(text)
  • text - The text thatto convert to upper case.

How to use 

The UPPER function converts a text string to all uppercase letters. UPPER function takes just one argument, text, which can be a text value or cell reference. UPPER changes any lowercase characters in the text value to uppercase. Numbers, punctuation, and spaces are not affected. UPPER will convert numbers to text with number formatting removed.

Examples

=UPPER("Apple") // returns "APPLE"
=UPPER("pear") // returns "PEAR"

Numbers or punctuation characters inside a text string are unaffected:

=UPPER("xyy-020-kwp") // returns "XYY-020-KWP"

If a numeric value is given to UPPER, number formatting is removed. For example, if cell A1 contains the date June 26, 2021, date formatting will be lost and UPPER will return a date serial number as text:

=UPPER(A1) // returns "44373"

If necessary, you can use the TEXT function to workaround this limitation. Use TEXT to convert the number to a text value, then pass that value into UPPER:

=UPPER(TEXT(A1,"mmmm d, yyyy")) // returns "JUNE 26, 2021"

Related functions

Use the LOWER function to convert text to lowercase, use the UPPER function to convert text to uppercase, and use the PROPER function to capitalize the words in a text string.

Notes

  • All letters in text are converted to uppercase.
  • Numbers and punctuation characters are not affected.
  • Number formatting is removed from standalone numeric values.
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Dave Bruns

Hi - I'm Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.