String To Lower/Upper in C++

Question

What is the best way people have found to do String to Lower case / Upper case in C++?

The issue is complicated by the fact that C++ isn't an English only programming language. Is there a good multilingual method?

Be aware that the current solution is not Unicode compatible. — sorin, Mar 08 '10 at 15:57
Dealing with multilingual/Unicode text is hard. Use a Unicode library that has already implemented these operations. — Remy Lebeau, Jan 26 '21 at 19:53

Darren Kopp · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-19T18:32:57.600

32

#include <algorithm>
std::string data = "Abc";
std::transform(data.begin(), data.end(), data.begin(), ::toupper);

http://notfaq.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/cc-convert-string-to-upperlower-case/

Also, CodeProject article for common string methods: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/stl/STL_string_util.aspx

edited May 19 '13 at 18:32

answered Aug 14 '08 at 18:53

Darren Kopp

76,581
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1

You should say that one needs to #include to use transform – c0m4 Dec 04 '08 at 12:14
7

I think it's better to use "dumb quotes" in such example of a string literal, rather than “smart quotes”. It makes it better in terms of copy-paste-compile. – Ron Klein Jan 19 '10 at 08:58

score 20 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 10 '10 at 03:12

> std::string data = “Abc”; 
> std::transform(data.begin(), data.end(), data.begin(), ::toupper);

This will work, but this will use the standard "C" locale. You can use facets if you need to get a tolower for another locale. The above code using facets would be:

locale loc("");
const ctype<char>& ct = use_facet<ctype<char> >(loc);
transform(str.begin(), str.end(), std::bind1st(std::mem_fun(&ctype<char>::tolower), &ct));

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 12 '09 at 19:02

For copy-pasters hoping to use Nic Strong's answer, note the spelling error in "use_factet" and the missing third parameter to std::transform:

locale loc("");
const ctype<char>& ct = use_factet<ctype<char> >(loc);
transform(str.begin(), str.end(), std::bind1st(std::mem_fun(&ctype<char>::tolower), &ct));

should be

locale loc("");
const ctype<char>& ct = use_facet<ctype<char> >(loc);
transform(str.begin(), str.end(), str.begin(), std::bind1st(std::mem_fun(&ctype<char>::tolower), &ct));

Thanks Hexetic, looks like GMan cleaned it up for us :) – Nic Strong Mar 10 '10 at 08:30 — Nic Strong, Mar 10 '10 at 08:30

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

You should also review this question. Basically the problem is that the standard C/C++ libraries weren't built to handle Unicode data, so you will have to look to other libraries.

This may change as the C++ standard is updated. I know the next compiler from Borland (CodeGear) will have Unicode support, and I would guess Microsoft's C++ compiler will have, or already has string libraries that support Unicode.

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 17 '08 at 13:30

As Darren told you, the easiest method is to use std::transform.

But beware that in some language, like German for instance, there isn't always a one to one mapping between lower and uppercase. The "esset" lowercase character (look like the Greek character beta) is transformed to "SS" in uppercase.

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 02 '10 at 14:40

2

If you have Boost, then it has the simplest way. Have a look at to_upper()/to_lower() in Boost string algorithms.

answered Dec 02 '10 at 14:40

yasouser

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NoOne · Answer 7 · 2013-03-01T05:39:33.487

I have found a way to convert the case of unicode (and multilingual) characters, but you need to know/find (somehow) the locale of the character:

#include <locale.h>

_locale_t locale = _create_locale(LC_CTYPE, "Greek");
AfxMessageBox((CString)""+(TCHAR)_totupper_l(_T('α'), locale));
_free_locale(locale);

I haven't found a way to do that yet... I someone knows how, let me know.

Setting locale to NULL doesn't work...

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 27 '14 at 17:40

1

The VCL has a SysUtils.hpp which has LowerCase(unicodeStringVar) and UpperCase(unicodeStringVar) which might work for you. I use this in C++ Builder 2009.

answered Jan 27 '14 at 17:40

James Oravec

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 26 '08 at 18:58

0

What Steve says is right, but I guess that if your code had to support several languages, you could have a factory method that encapsulates a set of methods that do the relevant toUpper or toLower based on that language.

answered Aug 26 '08 at 18:58

axs6791

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Joma · Answer 10 · 2021-01-26T19:49:36.873

Based on Kyle_the_hacker's -----> answer with my extras.

Ubuntu

In terminal List all locales
locale -a

Install all locales
sudo apt-get install -y locales locales-all

Compile main.cpp
$ g++ main.cpp

Run compiled program
$ ./a.out

Results

Zoë Saldaña played in La maldición del padre Cardona. ëèñ αω óóChloë
Zoë Saldaña played in La maldición del padre Cardona. ëèñ αω óóChloë
ZOË SALDAÑA PLAYED IN LA MALDICIÓN DEL PADRE CARDONA. ËÈÑ ΑΩ ÓÓCHLOË
ZOË SALDAÑA PLAYED IN LA MALDICIÓN DEL PADRE CARDONA. ËÈÑ ΑΩ ÓÓCHLOË
zoë saldaña played in la maldición del padre cardona. ëèñ αω óóchloë
zoë saldaña played in la maldición del padre cardona. ëèñ αω óóchloë

Windows

In cmd run VCVARS developer tools
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"

Compile main.cpp
> cl /EHa main.cpp /D "_DEBUG" /D "_CONSOLE" /D "_UNICODE" /D "UNICODE" /std:c++17 /DYNAMICBASE "kernel32.lib" "user32.lib" "gdi32.lib" "winspool.lib" "comdlg32.lib" "advapi32.lib" "shell32.lib" "ole32.lib" "oleaut32.lib" "uuid.lib" "odbc32.lib" "odbccp32.lib" /MTd

Compilador de optimización de C/C++ de Microsoft (R) versión 19.27.29111 para x64
(C) Microsoft Corporation. Todos los derechos reservados.

main.cpp
Microsoft (R) Incremental Linker Version 14.27.29111.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

/out:main.exe
main.obj
kernel32.lib
user32.lib
gdi32.lib
winspool.lib
comdlg32.lib
advapi32.lib
shell32.lib
ole32.lib
oleaut32.lib
uuid.lib
odbc32.lib
odbccp32.lib

Run main.exe
>main.exe

Results

Zoë Saldaña played in La maldición del padre Cardona. ëèñ αω óóChloë
Zoë Saldaña played in La maldición del padre Cardona. ëèñ αω óóChloë
ZOË SALDAÑA PLAYED IN LA MALDICIÓN DEL PADRE CARDONA. ËÈÑ ΑΩ ÓÓCHLOË
ZOË SALDAÑA PLAYED IN LA MALDICIÓN DEL PADRE CARDONA. ËÈÑ ΑΩ ÓÓCHLOË
zoë saldaña played in la maldición del padre cardona. ëèñ αω óóchloë
zoë saldaña played in la maldición del padre cardona. ëèñ αω óóchloë

The code - main.cpp

This code was only tested on Windows x64 and Ubuntu Linux x64.

/*
 * Filename: c:\Users\x\Cpp\main.cpp
 * Path: c:\Users\x\Cpp
 * Filename: /home/x/Cpp/main.cpp
 * Path: /home/x/Cpp
 * Created Date: Saturday, October 17th 2020, 10:43:31 pm
 * Author: Joma
 *
 * No Copyright 2020
 */


#include <iostream>
#include <set>
#include <string>
#include <locale>

// WINDOWS
#if (_WIN32)
#include <Windows.h>
#include <conio.h>
#define WINDOWS_PLATFORM 1
#define DLLCALL STDCALL
#define DLLIMPORT _declspec(dllimport)
#define DLLEXPORT _declspec(dllexport)
#define DLLPRIVATE
#define NOMINMAX

//EMSCRIPTEN
#elif defined(__EMSCRIPTEN__)
#include <emscripten/emscripten.h>
#include <emscripten/bind.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <termios.h>
#define EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM 1
#define DLLCALL
#define DLLIMPORT
#define DLLEXPORT __attribute__((visibility("default")))
#define DLLPRIVATE __attribute__((visibility("hidden")))

// LINUX - Ubuntu, Fedora, , Centos, Debian, RedHat
#elif (__LINUX__ || __gnu_linux__ || __linux__ || __linux || linux)
#define LINUX_PLATFORM 1
#include <unistd.h>
#include <termios.h>
#define DLLCALL CDECL
#define DLLIMPORT
#define DLLEXPORT __attribute__((visibility("default")))
#define DLLPRIVATE __attribute__((visibility("hidden")))
#define CoTaskMemAlloc(p) malloc(p)
#define CoTaskMemFree(p) free(p)

//ANDROID
#elif (__ANDROID__ || ANDROID)
#define ANDROID_PLATFORM 1
#define DLLCALL
#define DLLIMPORT
#define DLLEXPORT __attribute__((visibility("default")))
#define DLLPRIVATE __attribute__((visibility("hidden")))

//MACOS
#elif defined(__APPLE__)
#include <unistd.h>
#include <termios.h>
#define DLLCALL
#define DLLIMPORT
#define DLLEXPORT __attribute__((visibility("default")))
#define DLLPRIVATE __attribute__((visibility("hidden")))
#include "TargetConditionals.h"
#if TARGET_OS_IPHONE && TARGET_IPHONE_SIMULATOR
#define IOS_SIMULATOR_PLATFORM 1
#elif TARGET_OS_IPHONE
#define IOS_PLATFORM 1
#elif TARGET_OS_MAC
#define MACOS_PLATFORM 1
#else

#endif

#endif



typedef std::string String;
typedef std::wstring WString;

#define EMPTY_STRING u8""s
#define EMPTY_WSTRING L""s

using namespace std::literals::string_literals;

class Strings
{
public:
    static String WideStringToString(const WString& wstr)
    {
        if (wstr.empty())
        {
            return String();
        }
        size_t pos;
        size_t begin = 0;
        String ret;

#if WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        int size;
        pos = wstr.find(static_cast<wchar_t>(0), begin);
        while (pos != WString::npos && begin < wstr.length())
        {
            WString segment = WString(&wstr[begin], pos - begin);
            size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, &segment[0], segment.size(), NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
            String converted = String(size, 0);
            WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, &segment[0], segment.size(), &converted[0], converted.size(), NULL, NULL);
            ret.append(converted);
            ret.append({ 0 });
            begin = pos + 1;
            pos = wstr.find(static_cast<wchar_t>(0), begin);
        }
        if (begin <= wstr.length())
        {
            WString segment = WString(&wstr[begin], wstr.length() - begin);
            size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, &segment[0], segment.size(), NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
            String converted = String(size, 0);
            WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, WC_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, &segment[0], segment.size(), &converted[0], converted.size(), NULL, NULL);
            ret.append(converted);
        }
#elif LINUX_PLATFORM || MACOS_PLATFORM || EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        size_t size;
        pos = wstr.find(static_cast<wchar_t>(0), begin);
        while (pos != WString::npos && begin < wstr.length())
        {
            WString segment = WString(&wstr[begin], pos - begin);
            size = wcstombs(nullptr, segment.c_str(), 0);
            String converted = String(size, 0);
            wcstombs(&converted[0], segment.c_str(), converted.size());
            ret.append(converted);
            ret.append({ 0 });
            begin = pos + 1;
            pos = wstr.find(static_cast<wchar_t>(0), begin);
        }
        if (begin <= wstr.length())
        {
            WString segment = WString(&wstr[begin], wstr.length() - begin);
            size = wcstombs(nullptr, segment.c_str(), 0);
            String converted = String(size, 0);
            wcstombs(&converted[0], segment.c_str(), converted.size());
            ret.append(converted);
        }
#else
        static_assert(false, "Unknown Platform");
#endif
        return ret;
    }

    static WString StringToWideString(const String& str)
    {
        if (str.empty())
        {
            return WString();
        }

        size_t pos;
        size_t begin = 0;
        WString ret;
#ifdef WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        int size = 0;
        pos = str.find(static_cast<char>(0), begin);
        while (pos != std::string::npos) {
            std::string segment = std::string(&str[begin], pos - begin);
            std::wstring converted = std::wstring(segment.size() + 1, 0);
            size = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, MB_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, &segment[0], segment.size(), &converted[0], converted.length());
            converted.resize(size);
            ret.append(converted);
            ret.append({ 0 });
            begin = pos + 1;
            pos = str.find(static_cast<char>(0), begin);
        }
        if (begin < str.length()) {
            std::string segment = std::string(&str[begin], str.length() - begin);
            std::wstring converted = std::wstring(segment.size() + 1, 0);
            size = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, MB_ERR_INVALID_CHARS, segment.c_str(), segment.size(), &converted[0], converted.length());
            converted.resize(size);
            ret.append(converted);
        }

#elif LINUX_PLATFORM || MACOS_PLATFORM || EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        size_t size;
        pos = str.find(static_cast<char>(0), begin);
        while (pos != String::npos)
        {
            String segment = String(&str[begin], pos - begin);
            WString converted = WString(segment.size(), 0);
            size = mbstowcs(&converted[0], &segment[0], converted.size());
            converted.resize(size);
            ret.append(converted);
            ret.append({ 0 });
            begin = pos + 1;
            pos = str.find(static_cast<char>(0), begin);
        }
        if (begin < str.length())
        {
            String segment = String(&str[begin], str.length() - begin);
            WString converted = WString(segment.size(), 0);
            size = mbstowcs(&converted[0], &segment[0], converted.size());
            converted.resize(size);
            ret.append(converted);
        }
#else
        static_assert(false, "Unknown Platform");
#endif
        return ret;
    }


    static WString ToUpper(const WString& data)
    {
        WString result = data;
        auto& f = std::use_facet<std::ctype<wchar_t>>(std::locale());

        f.toupper(&result[0], &result[0] + result.size());
        return result;
    }

    static String  ToUpper(const String& data)
    {
        return WideStringToString(ToUpper(StringToWideString(data)));
    }

    static WString ToLower(const WString& data)
    {
        WString result = data;
        auto& f = std::use_facet<std::ctype<wchar_t>>(std::locale());
        f.tolower(&result[0], &result[0] + result.size());
        return result;
    }

    static String ToLower(const String& data)
    {
        return WideStringToString(ToLower(StringToWideString(data)));
    }

};

enum class ConsoleTextStyle
{
    DEFAULT = 0,
    BOLD = 1,
    FAINT = 2,
    ITALIC = 3,
    UNDERLINE = 4,
    SLOW_BLINK = 5,
    RAPID_BLINK = 6,
    REVERSE = 7,
};

enum class ConsoleForeground
{
    DEFAULT = 39,
    BLACK = 30,
    DARK_RED = 31,
    DARK_GREEN = 32,
    DARK_YELLOW = 33,
    DARK_BLUE = 34,
    DARK_MAGENTA = 35,
    DARK_CYAN = 36,
    GRAY = 37,
    DARK_GRAY = 90,
    RED = 91,
    GREEN = 92,
    YELLOW = 93,
    BLUE = 94,
    MAGENTA = 95,
    CYAN = 96,
    WHITE = 97
};

enum class ConsoleBackground
{
    DEFAULT = 49,
    BLACK = 40,
    DARK_RED = 41,
    DARK_GREEN = 42,
    DARK_YELLOW = 43,
    DARK_BLUE = 44,
    DARK_MAGENTA = 45,
    DARK_CYAN = 46,
    GRAY = 47,
    DARK_GRAY = 100,
    RED = 101,
    GREEN = 102,
    YELLOW = 103,
    BLUE = 104,
    MAGENTA = 105,
    CYAN = 106,
    WHITE = 107
};

class Console
{
private:
    static void EnableVirtualTermimalProcessing()
    {
#if defined WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        HANDLE hOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
        DWORD dwMode = 0;
        GetConsoleMode(hOut, &dwMode);
        if (!(dwMode & ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING))
        {
            dwMode |= ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING;
            SetConsoleMode(hOut, dwMode);
        }
#endif
    }

    static void ResetTerminalFormat()
    {
        std::cout << u8"\033[0m";
    }

    static void SetVirtualTerminalFormat(ConsoleForeground foreground, ConsoleBackground background, std::set<ConsoleTextStyle> styles)
    {
        String format = u8"\033[";
        format.append(std::to_string(static_cast<int>(foreground)));
        format.append(u8";");
        format.append(std::to_string(static_cast<int>(background)));
        if (styles.size() > 0)
        {
            for (auto it = styles.begin(); it != styles.end(); ++it)
            {
                format.append(u8";");
                format.append(std::to_string(static_cast<int>(*it)));
            }
        }
        format.append(u8"m");
        std::cout << format;
    }
public:
    static void Clear()
    {

#ifdef WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        std::system(u8"cls");
#elif LINUX_PLATFORM || defined MACOS_PLATFORM
        std::system(u8"clear");
#elif EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        emscripten::val::global()["console"].call<void>(u8"clear");
#else
        static_assert(false, "Unknown Platform");
#endif
    }

    static void Write(const String& s, ConsoleForeground foreground = ConsoleForeground::DEFAULT, ConsoleBackground background = ConsoleBackground::DEFAULT, std::set<ConsoleTextStyle> styles = {})
    {
#ifndef EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        EnableVirtualTermimalProcessing();
        SetVirtualTerminalFormat(foreground, background, styles);
#endif
        String str = s;
#ifdef WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        WString unicode = Strings::StringToWideString(str);
        WriteConsole(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), unicode.c_str(), static_cast<DWORD>(unicode.length()), nullptr, nullptr);
#elif defined LINUX_PLATFORM || defined MACOS_PLATFORM || EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        std::cout << str;
#else
        static_assert(false, "Unknown Platform");
#endif

#ifndef EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        ResetTerminalFormat();
#endif
    }

    static void WriteLine(const String& s, ConsoleForeground foreground = ConsoleForeground::DEFAULT, ConsoleBackground background = ConsoleBackground::DEFAULT, std::set<ConsoleTextStyle> styles = {})
    {
        Write(s, foreground, background, styles);
        std::cout << std::endl;
    }

    static void Write(const WString& s, ConsoleForeground foreground = ConsoleForeground::DEFAULT, ConsoleBackground background = ConsoleBackground::DEFAULT, std::set<ConsoleTextStyle> styles = {})
    {
#ifndef EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        EnableVirtualTermimalProcessing();
        SetVirtualTerminalFormat(foreground, background, styles);
#endif
        WString str = s;

#ifdef WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        WriteConsole(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), str.c_str(), static_cast<DWORD>(str.length()), nullptr, nullptr);
#elif LINUX_PLATFORM || MACOS_PLATFORM || EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        std::cout << Strings::WideStringToString(str);
#else
        static_assert(false, "Unknown Platform");
#endif

#ifndef EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        ResetTerminalFormat();
#endif
    }

    static void WriteLine(const WString& s, ConsoleForeground foreground = ConsoleForeground::DEFAULT, ConsoleBackground background = ConsoleBackground::DEFAULT, std::set<ConsoleTextStyle> styles = {})
    {
        Write(s, foreground, background, styles);
        std::cout << std::endl;
    }

    static void WriteLine()
    {
        std::cout << std::endl;
    }

    static void Pause()
    {
        char c;
        do
        {
            c = getchar();
            std::cout << "Press Key " << std::endl;
        } while (c != 64);
        std::cout << "KeyPressed" << std::endl;
    }

    static int PauseAny(bool printWhenPressed = false, ConsoleForeground foreground = ConsoleForeground::DEFAULT, ConsoleBackground background = ConsoleBackground::DEFAULT, std::set<ConsoleTextStyle> styles = {})
    {
        int ch;
#ifdef WINDOWS_PLATFORM
        ch = _getch();
#elif LINUX_PLATFORM || MACOS_PLATFORM || EMSCRIPTEN_PLATFORM
        struct termios oldt, newt;
        tcgetattr(STDIN_FILENO, &oldt);
        newt = oldt;
        newt.c_lflag &= ~(ICANON | ECHO);
        tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &newt);
        ch = getchar();
        tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &oldt);
#else
        static_assert(false, "Unknown Platform");
#endif
        if (printWhenPressed)
        {
            Console::Write(String(1, ch), foreground, background, styles);
        }
        return ch;
    }
};



int main()
{
    std::locale::global(std::locale(u8"en_US.UTF-8"));
    String dataStr = u8"Zoë Saldaña played in La maldición del padre Cardona. ëèñ αω óóChloë";
    WString dataWStr = L"Zoë Saldaña played in La maldición del padre Cardona. ëèñ αω óóChloë";
    std::string locale = u8"";
    //std::string locale = u8"de_DE.UTF-8";
    //std::string locale = u8"en_US.UTF-8";
    Console::WriteLine(dataStr);
    Console::WriteLine(dataWStr);
    dataStr = Strings::ToUpper(dataStr);
    dataWStr = Strings::ToUpper(dataWStr);
    Console::WriteLine(dataStr);
    Console::WriteLine(dataWStr);
    dataStr = Strings::ToLower(dataStr);
    dataWStr = Strings::ToLower(dataWStr);
    Console::WriteLine(dataStr);
    Console::WriteLine(dataWStr);
    
    
    Console::WriteLine(u8"Press any key to exit"s, ConsoleForeground::DARK_GRAY);
    Console::PauseAny();

    return 0;
}

String To Lower/Upper in C++

10 Answers10

Ubuntu

Windows

The code - main.cpp

Linked