{"id":1569,"date":"2021-05-08T23:59:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T23:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phptutorial.net\/?page_id=1569"},"modified":"2021-05-08T23:59:19","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T23:59:19","slug":"php-ucfirst","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-tutorial\/php-ucfirst\/","title":{"rendered":"PHP ucfirst"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the PHP ucfirst()<\/code> function to make the first alphabetic character uppercase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction to the PHP ucfirst() function #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ucfirst()<\/code> function accepts a string and returns a new string<\/a> with the first character converted to uppercase if that character is alphabetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the syntax of the ucfirst()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n

ucfirst ( string $string ) : string<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
The ucfirst()<\/code> function use the current locale to determine which character is alphabetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PHP ucfirst() function example #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The following example uses the ucfirst()<\/code> function to convert the first characters of the first name and last name to uppercase:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$first_name = 'john'<\/span>;\n$last_name = 'doe'<\/span>\n\necho<\/span> ucfirst($first_name) . ' '<\/span> . ucfirst($last_name); <\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
John Doe<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Dealing with multibyte characters #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The ucfirst()<\/code> doesn’t support multibyte strings. To return a new string with the first character converted to uppercase, you can use the following mb_ucfirst()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span> \n\nfunction<\/span> mb_ucfirst<\/span>($str)<\/span>\n<\/span>{\n    return<\/span>  mb_strtoupper(mb_substr($str, 0<\/span>, 1<\/span>)) . mb_substr($str, 1<\/span>);\n}<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
How it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
mb_strtoupper(mb_substr($str, 0<\/span>, 1<\/span>))<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Then, concatenate the uppercase character with the remaining characters in the string:<\/p>\n\n\n
mb_strtoupper(mb_substr($str, 0<\/span>, 1<\/span>)) . mb_substr($str, 1<\/span>);<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
The following example uses the ucfirst()<\/code> to convert the first letter of the string \u00e4btissin<\/code> to uppercase:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$title = '\u00e4btissin'<\/span>;\necho<\/span> ucfirst($title); \/\/ doesn't work<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00e4btissin<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
However, it doesn’t work as expected. Because in the default “C” locale characters, the ucfirst()<\/code> function doesn’t convert character like umlaut-a (\u00e4<\/code>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following uses the mb_ucfirst()<\/code> function instead:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$title = '\u00e4btissin'<\/span>;\necho<\/span> mb_ucfirst($title);<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00c4btissin<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Now, it works as expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summary #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  • Use the ucfirst()<\/code> function to returns a string with the first alphabetic character converted to uppercase.<\/li><\/ul>\n
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    Did you find this tutorial useful?<\/div>\n\t\t
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    <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
First, get the first character of the $str<\/code> using the mb_substr()<\/a><\/code> function and convert it to uppercase using the mb_strtoupper()<\/a> function:<\/p>\n\n\n