PHP - Changing Phone Number Format with Regex

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to convert a phone number in the format
+18761234567
into
876-123-4567
using a replace Regex.

This could be done without regex (just using strstr() if the format is always xxx-xxx-xxxx — andyb
– andyb, Commented Jun 15, 2011 at 19:26
@andyb if you benchmark the preg_replace() against calling substr() three times you'll find preg_replace() is faster — James C
– James C, Commented Jun 15, 2011 at 19:34
@James C I'm sure it is, however performance wasn't a requirement and the OP might only be doing this once and if so I believe that regex is overkill. I'm not disagreeing that your solution is more elegant and performant though! — andyb
– andyb, Commented Jun 15, 2011 at 19:39
@James C haha, yes indeed it was - point taken! However I am always mindful of Regular Expressions: Now You Have Two Problems — andyb
– andyb, Commented Jun 15, 2011 at 19:43

James C · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-15 19:27:50Z

20

I think this should work

preg_replace('/^\+1(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})$/i', '$1-$2-$3', '+18761234567');

I'm assuming that the +1 is constant and then use the \d shortcut to match decimal characters. The value in {} is the number of characters to match.

answered Jun 15, 2011 at 19:27

James C

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1 Comment

Terence Johnson Over a year ago

Very good regex, because it won't break numbers outside of the North American numbering system.

jjmontes · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-31 12:47:37Z

1

Also, there is a Regexp Library on the Internet. It may be of help.

Search for 'phone':

http://www.regexlib.com/Search.aspx?k=phone&c=-1&m=-1&ps=20

edited Oct 31, 2017 at 12:47

answered Jun 15, 2011 at 19:29

jjmontes

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1 Comment

jjmontes Over a year ago

Link corrected. Next time remember you can try to find the site and suggest an edit, instead of downvoting ;-).

andyb · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-15 19:34:18Z

0

I know it's not regex but this also works :-)

$num = '+18761234567';
$formatted = substr($num, 2, 3).'-'.substr($num, 5, 3).'-'.substr($num, 8);

answered Jun 15, 2011 at 19:34

andyb

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Comments

Jason Small · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-15 19:56:53Z

-2

This assumes there are 2 characters a the beginning to ignore.

preg_replace("/([0-9a-zA-Z+]{2})([0-9a-zA-Z]{3})([0-9a-zA-Z]{3})([0-9a-zA-Z]{4})/", "$2-$3-$4", '+18761234567');

answered Jun 15, 2011 at 19:56

Jason Small

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2 Comments

James C Over a year ago

it's not right to match on a-zA-Z too. You won't find those characters in a phone number!

Jason Small Over a year ago

Actually it could if it was a vanity number. For example 877-Call-Today

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