BUG #2579: initcap should not capitalize letter after apostrophe

Discussion:

Dan Franklin

2006-08-16 21:03:08 UTC

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 2579
Logged by: Dan Franklin
Email address: ***@fen.com
PostgreSQL version: 8.1.4
Operating system: GNU/Linux Fedora Core 5
Description: initcap should not capitalize letter after apostrophe
Details:

The statement
select initcap('John''s Parents');
returns
John'S Parents

The capital "S" after the apostrophe is incorrect. initcap should consider
the apostrophe to be a word-constituent for the purpose of identifying word
boundaries at which to start capitalizing.

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t***@tuxteam.de

2006-08-17 19:08:37 UTC

Permalink

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Post by Dan Franklin
Bug reference: 2579
Logged by: Dan Franklin
PostgreSQL version: 8.1.4
Operating system: GNU/Linux Fedora Core 5
Description: initcap should not capitalize letter after apostrophe
The statement
select initcap('John''s Parents');
returns
John'S Parents
The capital "S" after the apostrophe is incorrect. initcap should consider
the apostrophe to be a word-constituent for the purpose of identifying word
boundaries at which to start capitalizing.

Hmm. And what about Flann O'Brien?

Tough thing, this.

Regards
- -- tomÃ¡s
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Dan Franklin

2006-08-17 19:34:41 UTC

Permalink

Good point. It is probably not possible to get
it perfect. But I think that possessives and
contractions occur more often in a typical body
of text than Irish names. So it would be right
more often, even if it is still wrong some of the time.

Dan Franklin

Post by t***@tuxteam.de
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Dan Franklin
Family Education Network
Pearson Education
617-671-3799

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Bruce Momjian

2006-08-19 16:51:50 UTC

Permalink

Post by Dan Franklin
Good point. It is probably not possible to get
it perfect. But I think that possessives and
contractions occur more often in a typical body
of text than Irish names. So it would be right
more often, even if it is still wrong some of the time.

The function came from Oracle. How does Oracle's initcap() handle this?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post by Dan Franklin
Dan Franklin

Post by t***@tuxteam.de
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Hmm. And what about Flann O'Brien?
Tough thing, this.
Regards
- -- tom????s
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=GI/E
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Dan Franklin
Family Education Network
Pearson Education
617-671-3799
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EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com

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Stefan Kaltenbrunner

2006-08-19 17:32:56 UTC

Permalink

Post by Bruce Momjian

The function came from Oracle. How does Oracle's initcap() handle this?

looks like our behaviour is similiar to what oracle does:

Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production

SQL> select initcap('John''s Parents') from DUAL;

INITCAP('JOHN'
--------------
John'S Parents

SQL> select initcap('Flann O''Brian') from DUAL;

INITCAP('FLAN
-------------
Flann O'Brian

Stefan

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Richard Troy

2006-08-19 17:34:21 UTC

Permalink

Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:34:41 -0400
Subject: Re: [BUGS] BUG #2579: initcap should not capitalize letter
Good point. It is probably not possible to get
it perfect. But I think that possessives and
contractions occur more often in a typical body
of text than Irish names. So it would be right
more often, even if it is still wrong some of the time.
Dan Franklin

Two thoughts:

1) In English at least, it's only at the trailing end of a word that the
non-capitalization is clear (contractions, possessive, etc).

2) Proper names are unknowable as to what's appropriate and I posit that
there is no algorithm that works for names.

This leads to a conclusion: Never add capitalization inside a string of
letters.

Rgds,
Richard

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Bruce Momjian

2006-08-19 18:21:11 UTC

Permalink

Post by Richard Troy

1) In English at least, it's only at the trailing end of a word that the
non-capitalization is clear (contractions, possessive, etc).
2) Proper names are unknowable as to what's appropriate and I posit that
there is no algorithm that works for names.
This leads to a conclusion: Never add capitalization inside a string of
letters.

Interesting, but it worth breaking Oracle compatibility for it?
--
Bruce Momjian ***@momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com

+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

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