Phone number formatter
Format phone numbers between E.164 international and national formats
Phone Number Formatter
Format phone numbers in various international styles
Format hint: (XXX) XXX-XXXX
TL;DR
What is Phone number formatter?
Phone number formatting converts a phone number between display formats and storage formats. E.164 (defined by the ITU-T) is the international standard for storing phone numbers: a plus sign followed by the country code and subscriber number, with no spaces or punctuation (e.g. +12125551234). National formats add spaces and parentheses for readability.
Common use cases
- ‣Database normalization: store all phone numbers in E.164 format for consistent querying and deduplication
- ‣SMS API integration: SMS providers (Twilio, AWS SNS) require E.164 format
- ‣Form validation: confirm that a user-entered phone number is valid and normalize it before saving
Frequently asked questions
Why is E.164 the preferred storage format?
E.164 is unambiguous and globally unique. It includes the country code, so there is no need to store country separately. It contains no formatting characters, making it suitable as a primary key or index. All major telephony APIs accept it.
What is the maximum length of an E.164 number?
E.164 allows a maximum of 15 digits (not counting the leading +). This includes the country code (1-3 digits) and the subscriber number.