Question

Phone number validation using a regular expression

Asked by: Tyedyeguy

Hey, I'm trying to validate a phone number field on a form, but have minimal knowledge of regular expressions. Here's what I'm currently using as a validation expression: ((\(\d{3}\) ?)|(\d{3}-))?\d{3}-\d{4}

It allows the following formats: (555)555-5555, 555-5555, and 555-5555. However, the number could also be a department number from within the company, in which case I would like to allow just a 4 digit number such as 5555. What alterations would I have to make?

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Asked On
2005-10-11 at 10:08:49ID21591244
Tags

phone

,

number

,

validation

,

expression

,

regular

Topic

Active Server Pages (ASP)

Participating Experts
1
Points
250
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: peterxlanePosted on 2005-10-11 at 10:41:30ID: 15062542

I don't know enough about  Regular Expressions to change the expression, but you could put it all in a function and do something like this:

<%
Function ValidatePhone(strNumber)
      Dim objRegExpr
      Set objRegExpr = New regexp
      objRegExpr.Pattern = "((\(\d{3}\) ?)|(\d{3}-))?\d{3}-\d{4}"

      objRegExpr.Global = True
      objRegExpr.IgnoreCase = True

      Dim colMatches
      Set colMatches = objRegExpr.Execute(strNumber)
      If colMatches.Count > 0 Then
            ValidatePhone = True
      Else
            If Len(strNumber) = 4 And IsNumeric(strNumber) Then
                  ValidatePhone = True
            Else
                  ValidatePhone = False
            End If
      End If

      Set colMatches = Nothing
      Set objRegExpr = Nothing
      
End Function

Response.Write ValidatePhone("444-555-6666") & "<br>"
Response.Write ValidatePhone("(444)555-6666") & "<br>"
Response.Write ValidatePhone("55556") & "<br>"
Response.Write ValidatePhone("5555") & "<br>"
Response.Write ValidatePhone("hello") & "<br>"
%>

 

by: TyedyeguyPosted on 2005-10-11 at 10:52:01ID: 15062652

Well, for simplicity's sake, I'd much prefer to just use a regular expression in a validator control. If nobody else has any answers, I'll go with your example.

 

by: peterxlanePosted on 2005-10-11 at 10:53:08ID: 15062683

Personally, I would probably create a JavaScript (or search for one) that strips out all characters that are not numeric, and then validates that what is left is either 10 digits or 4 digits.  This could all be done on the client side.

Also, I noticed that your regular expression seems to recognize all sorts of combinations of numbers as long as there is a hyphen in there somewere...

 

by: peterxlanePosted on 2005-10-11 at 10:55:12ID: 15062749

Are you using .Net validator controls?

 

by: TyedyeguyPosted on 2005-10-11 at 12:16:19ID: 15063630

Sorry about the delay. Yep, .Net validators is what I'm using. I tried a few combinations of numbers and hyphens, and they all fail unless it's an actual phone number format. Do you know of a specific wrong format that is recognized as true?

 

by: peterxlanePosted on 2005-10-11 at 13:28:13ID: 15064250

Is there a regular expression section in EE?  Also, this site:  http://www.regexlib.com/Search.aspx has a search for regular expressions, but I think adding in that criteria to allow users to type the four digit number will require someone that actually knows how to work with these expressions...

 

by: TyedyeguyPosted on 2005-10-13 at 10:17:27ID: 15079114

Well, turns out the validation is no longer requested to be used. But since you posted an alternative solution, the points are yours.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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