# LOWER function
<a name="LOWER"></a>

Converts a string to lowercase. LOWER supports UTF-8 multibyte characters, up to a maximum of four bytes per character.

## Syntax
<a name="LOWER-synopsis"></a>

```
LOWER(string)
```

## Argument
<a name="LOWER-argument"></a>

 *string*   
The input parameter is a VARCHAR string (or any other data type, such as CHAR, that can be implicitly converted to VARCHAR). 

## Return type
<a name="LOWER-return-type"></a>

The LOWER function returns a character string that is the same data type as the input string.

## Examples
<a name="LOWER-examples"></a>

The following example converts the CATNAME field to lowercase: 

```
select catname, lower(catname) from category order by 1,2;

 catname  |   lower
----------+-----------
Classical | classical
Jazz      | jazz
MLB       | mlb
MLS       | mls
Musicals  | musicals
NBA       | nba
NFL       | nfl
NHL       | nhl
Opera     | opera
Plays     | plays
Pop       | pop
(11 rows)
```