Parse phone numbers in strings using PHP

Question

I need to parse phone numbers in strings, each string could have more than one number. My problem is that phone number could appear like this:

912343267
91 234 32 67
912 343 267
34912343267
+34912343267
0034912343267
+34 912343267
+34 91 234 32 67
+34 912 343 267

How can I possible deal with this? If you have some clue, would be appreciated.

Best Regards,

Updade1:

I'm testing the code like in the real environment:

$phone_list = "912343267 91 fgf ddf 234 32 67 dfffgg g 912 343 267 ffd dff fff 34912343267 ddssf f +34912343267 f fdd d 0034912343267 derd df e +34 912343267 fdd ff +34 91 234 32 67 ffd vv ff f +34 912 343 267";
$string = preg_replace('~[^0-9]~','',$phone_list);
echo $string;

Gives me:

91234326791234326791234326734912343267349123432670034912343267349123432673491234326734912343267

It is possible to output the numbers in an array?

Best Regards,

Update2:

I have tested with another kind of string but fails. I will post the example if someone have any clues on this.

$phone_list = '</div>A Front para<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />-Apoio;<br />-Criação;<br />-Campanhas;<br />-Promoções<br /><br /><br />CONDIÇÕES:<br /><br />Local de Trabalho: Es<br />Folgas: Mistas<br /><br /><br /><br />ordem 500€<br /><br /><br /><br />Mínimos:<br /><br />- Conhecimentos;<br />- Ensino ;<br />-INGLÊS.<br /><br /><br /><br />Candidaturas: <br />[email protected]<br />218559372 | 927 555 929 | <br />RH<br />Rua C. Sal. 40<br />1000-000 Lisboa<br /><br /><br />';
$phone_list = preg_replace('~[^0-9a-z]~i','',$phone_list);
$phone_list = preg_split('~[a-z]+~i',$phone_list);
print_r($phone_list);

The code return:

Array ( [0] => [1] => 500 [2] => 218559372927555929 [3] => 40 [4] => 1000000 [5] => )

The code should parse: 218559372 and 927555929 as separate numbers.

Any clues on this?

Best Regards,

Hi, thanks for the reply. I would like to parse into "912343267". It is possible? Best Regards, — André
– André, Commented Jan 6, 2011 at 14:32
can you give examples of the string as a whole? Can you please clarify whether or not the string has other characters in it (like phone numbers in a sentence..and there could be multiple phone numbers in the same string, etc..) or if the whole string is one number, but different format possibilities? — CrayonViolent
– CrayonViolent, Commented Jan 6, 2011 at 14:48
@Crayon Violent, thanks for the reply's. I have updated the question. If you can give some clue. Best Regards, — André
– André, Commented Jan 6, 2011 at 14:53
okay based on your update...if that is how your strings really look...there is no reliable way to parse phone numbers out of that. You have to instead take a step backwards and redo how your getting and/or storing your strings in the first place. — CrayonViolent
– CrayonViolent, Commented Jan 6, 2011 at 14:55

CrayonViolent · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 14:29:12Z

3

$string = preg_replace('~[^0-9]~','',$string);

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 14:29

CrayonViolent

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2 Comments

Mihai Toader Over a year ago

The problem is that he can have more than one number in a string. You code will convert "+34 912343267 or +34 91 234 32 67" into "3491234326734912343267" which is not nice :)

CrayonViolent Over a year ago

Based on his followup examples, I took "more than one number" to mean that the entirety of the string is one number, but there could be more than one format.

CrayonViolent · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 15:10:12Z

0

Based on your example string in your update, this is probably going to be your most reliable solution...but it has the major caveat that it will only work if ALL numbers in your string will be part of a phone number (no other random numbers not part of a phone number)...

$phone_list = "912343267 91 fgf ddf 234 32 67 dfffgg g 912 343 267 ffd dff fff 34912343267 ddssf f +34912343267 f fdd d 0034912343267 derd df e +34 912343267 fdd ff +34 91 234 32 67 ffd vv ff f +34 912 343 267";
$phone_list = preg_replace('~[^0-9a-z]~i','',$phone_list);
$phone_list = preg_split('~[a-z]+~i',$phone_list);

If there will be other numbers in your string that are not phone numbers...then you're kinda SoL...as I mentioned before, you will need to take a step back and redo how you are getting/storing the string in the first place.

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 15:10

CrayonViolent

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3 Comments

André Over a year ago

Hi, thanks for the reply. I have tested with this string "$phone_list = '</div>A Front para -Apoio; -Criação; -Campanhas; -Promoções CONDIÇÕES: Local de Trabalho: Es Folgas: Mistas ordem 500€ Mínimos: - Conhecimentos; - Ensino ; -INGLÊS. Candidaturas: [email protected] 218559372 | 927 555 929 | RH Rua C. Sal. 40 1000-000 Lisboa ';" and does not return the expected. Any clues? Best Reg

CrayonViolent Over a year ago

in your first update, you showed what you claimed to be "real environment" content...now you are showing something quite different. You can avoid this back and forth by showing proper context to begin with... If this is really your real content for real this time then I am back to saying that you cannot reliable parse all the phone numbers unless you can establish a set of solid rules for defining where they will be to begin with. Will the numbers always appear between certain html tags? Which ones? Anything else possible to appear there? The only way pattern matching will reliably work is

CrayonViolent Over a year ago

...is if there is a reliable pattern to match. You have given no evidence that there is a reliable pattern to match, and it doesn't help that you keep producing different examples of what the content is supposed to be.

David Powers · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 18:36:42Z

0

If it's just the numbers that you want from the string, use preg_split() to create an array containing only the numbers, then use the following function, which has an optional parameter for the country code:

function formatPhone($phone, $country_code = 34) {
    $pattern = '/^(00|\+)?' . $country_code . '\s?/';
    $phone = preg_replace($pattern, '', $phone);
    return str_replace(' ', '', $phone);
}
$list = preg_split('/\s([^\d+]+)/', $phone_list);
$numbers = array();
foreach ($list as $number) {
    $numbers[] = formatPhone($number);
}

$numbers is an array of the formatted numbers.

The following should handle your Update 2 code:

$country_code = 34;
$pattern = '/(?:\+|00)?(?:' . $country-code . ')?(\d[\d\s]{9,14})/';
preg_match_all($pattern, $phone_list, $matches);
$numbers = array();
if (isset($matches[1])) {
    foreach ($matches[1] as $match) {
        $numbers[] = str_replace(' ', '', $match);
    }
}

Your formatted phone numbers are in $numbers.

edited Jan 6, 2011 at 18:36

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 15:00

David Powers

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2 Comments

André Over a year ago

Hi, I've tested the code and works, I will try to use substring to get only the numbers with 9 characters. Best Regards,

David Powers Over a year ago

@André I have updated the code to work with your latest version.

CrayonViolent · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 19:43:22Z

So is your new updated example content the really real for real this time real content? Broken down for clarity:

$phone_list = '
</div>
A Front para
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
-Apoio;
<br />
-Criação;
<br />
-Campanhas;
<br />
-Promoções
<br /><br /><br />
CONDIÇÕES:
<br /><br />
Local de Trabalho: Es
<br />
Folgas: Mistas
<br /><br /><br /><br />
ordem 500€
<br /><br /><br /><br />
Mínimos:
<br /><br />
- Conhecimentos;
<br />
- Ensino ;
<br />
-INGLÊS.
<br /><br /><br /><br />
Candidaturas: 
<br />
[email protected]
<br />
218559372 | 927 555 929 | 
<br />
RH
<br />
Rua C. Sal. 40
<br />
1000-000 Lisboa
<br /><br /><br />';

In order to scrape the numbers out of that, you must have a reliable way of finding anchors or delimiters of some kind that mark where the numbers are. For example, if this the entirety of the string and the html code itself will not change, you can for instance look for the content between the 7th and 6th to last   tags and go from there....

...from there, it looks like if you have multiple phone numbers, they are delimited by a pipe, is this correct? Why didn't you say anything about that to begin with?

I'm only making this post to try and explain to you how regex works: in order to reliably match a pattern, a reliable pattern in the format must first be identified.

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