#include <ctype.h> int toupper(int c); int tolower(int c); int toupper_l(int c, locale_t locale); int tolower_l(int c, locale_t locale);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
toupper_l(), tolower_l():
Since glibc 2.10:
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700
Before glibc 2.10:
_GNU_SOURCE
If c is a lowercase letter, toupper() returns its uppercase equivalent, if an uppercase representation exists in the current locale. Otherwise, it returns c. The toupper_l() function performs the same task, but uses the locale referred to by the locale handle locale.
If c is an uppercase letter, tolower() returns its lowercase equivalent, if a lowercase representation exists in the current locale. Otherwise, it returns c. The tolower_l() function performs the same task, but uses the locale referred to by the locale handle locale.
If c is neither an unsigned char value nor EOF, the behavior of these functions is undefined.
The behavior of toupper_l() and tolower_l() is undefined if locale is the special locale object LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE (see duplocale(3)) or is not a valid locale object handle.
| Interface | Attribute | Value |
| toupper(), tolower(), toupper_l(), tolower_l() | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
toupper_l(), tolower_l(): POSIX.1-2008.
char c; ... res = toupper((unsigned char) c);
This is necessary because char may be the equivalent signed char, in which case a byte where the top bit is set would be sign extended when converting to int, yielding a value that is outside the range of unsigned char.
The details of what constitutes an uppercase or lowercase letter depend on the locale. For example, the default C locale does not know about umlauts, so no conversion is done for them.
In some non-English locales, there are lowercase letters with no corresponding uppercase equivalent; the German sharp s is one example.