LOWER scalar function

The LOWER function returns a string in which all the SBCS characters have been converted to lowercase characters.

The schema is SYSIBM. (The SYSFUN version of this function continues to be available with support for CLOB arguments.)

string-expression: An expression that returns a built-in character string value. In a Unicode database, the expression can also return a graphic string, in which case it is first converted to a character string before the function is evaluated.

Result

The characters A-Z are converted to the characters a-z, and other characters are converted to their lowercase equivalents, if they exist. For example, in code page 850, É maps to é. If the code point length of the result character is not the same as the code point length of the source character, the source character is not converted. Because not all characters are converted, LOWER(UPPER(string-expression)) does not necessarily return the same result as LOWER(string-expression).

The result of the function has the same data type, string unit, and length attribute as the argument. If the argument can be null, the result can be null; if the argument is null, the result is the null value.

Example

Ensure that the characters in the value of column JOB in the EMPLOYEE table are returned in lowercase characters.

   SELECT LOWER(JOB)
     FROM EMPLOYEE
     WHERE EMPNO = '000020';

The result is the value 'manager'.