Title Case Converter
Convert a headline to title case in one step: every word capitalised, hyphens split words, and Chinese, Japanese and emoji left untouched.
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How It Works
A title case converter is a small piece of text surgery, and this one uses a single, predictable rule rather than a style guide: every word gets a capital first letter and lowercase for the rest, and the spaces and hyphens between words survive untouched.
The matching step. One regular expression finds each run of characters that is neither whitespace nor a hyphen. Everything outside those runs, including the separator itself, is copied through unchanged, which is why a double space in the source is still a double space in the result and why "hello-world" becomes "Hello-World" with both halves capitalised.
The per-word step. Each match is rebuilt from two pieces: the first character upper-cased, then the remainder lower-cased. Upper-casing only the first character means the rest of the word is normalised down, so a word typed in capitals arrives in sentence form and an acronym is flattened: "NASA and the ISS" returns "Nasa And The Iss".
What the rule does not do. There is no list of small words. Chicago and AP both keep articles and short prepositions lowercase mid-title, but that requires a dictionary of exceptions, and this page deliberately has none, so "a tale of two cities" becomes "A Tale Of Two Cities". Underscores are not separators either: "foo_bar" is one word and returns "Foo_bar".
Characters without case. Chinese, Japanese and emoji have no upper or lower form, so they pass through unchanged, and a mixed string such as "hello 世界" becomes "Hello 世界". Accented Latin letters do have case, so "élan vital" correctly becomes "Élan Vital".
Running it twice. Because the second pass sees the same word boundaries and the same already-normalised letters, applying the conversion again changes nothing. That makes it safe to run over a file of headlines without worrying about repeated runs degrading the text.
For a blog title, a CMS field or an email subject line, the output is usually ready to paste; for a publication with a house style, expect to lowercase two or three small words afterwards.
How to title-case a headline in four steps
- Paste the headline as plain text; the converter reads one line or a whole file the same way.
- Check that the mode is Title Case, since the sibling page opens in lowercase by default.
- Restore acronyms the pass flattened: NASA, API and SQL each need their capitals put back by hand.
- Lowercase the small words your style guide wants down, such as of and the, if you follow AP or Chicago.
What the one rule does to real input
| Pasted headline | Title case output | Rule applied |
|---|---|---|
| the quick brown fox | The Quick Brown Fox | Every word is capitalised — there is no stop-word list |
| NASA and the ISS | Nasa And The Iss | Only the first letter keeps its capital; the rest is lower-cased |
| hello-world | Hello-World | A hyphen is a word boundary, so both halves change |
| foo_bar | Foo_bar | An underscore is not a boundary: the whole token is one word |
| hello 世界 | Hello 世界 | Characters without case pass through unchanged |
Examples
Input
the quick brown foxOutput
The Quick Brown FoxEvery word is capitalised, including "the", because the converter carries no small-word exceptions.
Input
NASA and the ISSOutput
Nasa And The IssThe trade-off of normalising each word: acronyms lose their capitals, so restore them by hand.
Input
hello-worldOutput
Hello-WorldA hyphen counts as a boundary, so both halves of the compound are capitalised.
Input
Output
Boundary case: whitespace-only input is returned untouched rather than trimmed or rejected.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is title case?
- Title case capitalises the first letter of the significant words in a headline and lowercases the rest, as in "The Quick Brown Fox". Style guides disagree on which words count as insignificant, so the exact output depends on whether you follow AP, Chicago or APA rules.
- Why are small words like of and the capitalised?
- Because this converter has no stop-word list. Capitalising every word is the simplest rule that works for the majority of headlines, and it keeps the tool predictable. If your style guide wants "of" and "the" lowercase mid-title, edit those two or three words by hand after converting.
- Why did my acronym turn into Nasa?
- Each word keeps only its first capital and lowercases the remainder, which is what makes ALL-CAPS input readable. The side effect is that NASA becomes Nasa. Restore acronyms such as NASA, API or SQL manually, or convert with the sentence-case mode if the text is mostly acronyms.
- Does it work on non-English titles?
- It works on any script that has upper and lower forms, including accented Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. Chinese, Japanese, Korean and emoji have no case, so they are left exactly as typed. The result is still valid for those languages; it simply leaves them unchanged.
Limitations & Accuracy
There is no stop-word list, so articles and short prepositions are capitalised mid-title unless you lowercase them yourself. Each word keeps only its first capital, which flattens acronyms such as NASA into Nasa. Underscores are not word boundaries, so foo_bar becomes Foo_bar. Characters without case, including Chinese, Japanese and emoji, are returned unchanged. Because the rule is applied per word, the output is stable: converting twice gives the same string.