How do I capitalize words in a String?
Author: Deron Eriksson
Description: This Java example shows how to capitalize words in a String.
Tutorial created using: Windows XP || JDK 1.5.0_09 || Eclipse Web Tools Platform 2.0 (Eclipse 3.3.0)


The WordUtils utility class in the Commons LangS library makes it easy to capitalize the words in a String. WordUtils has four methods for capitalizing words. The CapitalizeTest class demonstrates these four methods and some of their nuances. For more detailed information, you can consult http://commons.apache.org/lang/api-release/org/apache/commons/lang/WordUtils.html.

CapitalizeTest.java

package test;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.apache.commons.lang.WordUtils;

public class CapitalizeTest {

	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
		capitalize("this is a string");
		capitalize("this.is.another string");
		capitalize("HERE IS ANOTHER");
		capitalize("oNE lAST sTRING");
	}

	public static void capitalize(String string) {
		System.out.println("#0: " + string + " | original");
		System.out.println("#1: " + WordUtils.capitalize(string) + " | WordUtils.capitalize(string)");
		System.out.println("#2: " + WordUtils.capitalize(string, new char[] { '.' })
				+ " | WordUtils.capitalize(string, new char[] { '.' })");
		System.out.println("#3: " + WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string) + " | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string)");
		System.out.println("#4: " + WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string, new char[] { '.' })
				+ " | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string, new char[] { '.' })");
		System.out.println();
	}

}

The console output from CapitalizeTest is shown here:

Results

#0: this is a string | original
#1: This Is A String | WordUtils.capitalize(string)
#2: This is a string | WordUtils.capitalize(string, new char[] { '.' })
#3: This Is A String | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string)
#4: This is a string | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string, new char[] { '.' })

#0: this.is.another string | original
#1: This.is.another String | WordUtils.capitalize(string)
#2: This.Is.Another string | WordUtils.capitalize(string, new char[] { '.' })
#3: This.is.another String | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string)
#4: This.Is.Another string | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string, new char[] { '.' })

#0: HERE IS ANOTHER | original
#1: HERE IS ANOTHER | WordUtils.capitalize(string)
#2: HERE IS ANOTHER | WordUtils.capitalize(string, new char[] { '.' })
#3: Here Is Another | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string)
#4: Here is another | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string, new char[] { '.' })

#0: oNE lAST sTRING | original
#1: ONE LAST STRING | WordUtils.capitalize(string)
#2: ONE lAST sTRING | WordUtils.capitalize(string, new char[] { '.' })
#3: One Last String | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string)
#4: One last string | WordUtils.capitalizeFully(string, new char[] { '.' })