## Syntax
```mermaid
%%{init: {
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'themeVariables': {
'fontSize': '11px',
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flowchart LR
Start((START)) --> LOWER[LOWER]:::quoted
LOWER --> End((END))
```
## Purpose
The `LOWER` SQL function changes all characters in provided text to lowercase.
Parameters:
- Input (`varchar2`): the text that will be converted to lowercase.
Returns: text converted to lowercase as `varchar2`.
## Examples
The following example lower cases `aap noot mies`:
```sql
select lower('aap noot mies')
----------------
aap noot mies
```
The following example lower cases `JOHN DOE`:
```sql
select lower('JOHN DOE')
----------------
john doe
```
The following example lower cases`'s-Hertogenbosch`:
```sql
select lower('''s-Hertogenbosch')
----------------
's-hertogenbosch
```