Phone number Regex not working with swift

Question

I'm developing an app which works with phone numbers, but I'm having a problem using regex to find the phonenumber in a string.

My app looks through the contact's phone number which can be:

(with dash "-")
XXXX-XXXX
XXXXX-XXXXX
(YY) XXXX-XXXX
(YY) XXXXX-XXXX
+ZZ (YY) XXXX-XXXX
+ZZ (YY) XXXXX-XXXX

(without dash)
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
(YY) XXXXXXXX
(YY) XXXXXXXXX
+ZZ (YY) XXXXXXXX
+ZZ (YY) XXXXXXXXX

Based on all this possibilities above, I've written the following code:

    let range = telefone.rangeOfString("[0-9]{4,5}-[0-9]{4}", options:.RegularExpressionSearch)
    let range2 = telefone.rangeOfString("[0-9]{9}$", options:.RegularExpressionSearch)

    var found: String?

    if range != nil{
        found = telefone.substringWithRange(range!)
    }else if range2 != nil{
        found = telefone.substringWithRange(range2!)
    }

    print(found)

range is the regex to find phoneNumbers (with dash "-")
range2 is the regex to fund phone numbers (without dash)

With this code I get only the phone number, without the country code or the area code.

The problem is, this code returns nil on found variable when I test with a phone number like
+ZZ (YY) XXXXX-XXXX

Can someone help me find another way to write a regex to get only the "X" values of the string containing all the contact phone number?

UPDATE:

I noticed the code above, the variable range, returns null

    var telefone = "+42 43 23123-2221"

    let range = telefone.rangeOfString("\\d{4,5}\\-?\\d{4}", options:.RegularExpressionSearch)

    print("range \(range)")   //here returns nil

Is it always a 2, 2, (4 or 5), 4 pattern ? You could go simple `(?:\d{2}\D*){0,2}\d{4,5}\D*\d{4}` or for a little more assurance `(?<!\d)(?:\d{2}\D*){0,2}\d{4,5}\D*\d{4}(?!\d)` — , Dec 06 '15 at 19:47
This one will capture the parts grps 1-4. `(?<!\d)(?:(\d{2})\D*)?(?:(\d{2})\D*)?(\d{4,5})\D*(\d{4})(?!\d)` [demo](https://regex101.com/r/gM4uT3/4) — , Dec 06 '15 at 19:54
based on your answer i used \d{4,5}\-?\d{4}, with is the part i need from the number. but it didn't found using .rangeOfString("\\d{4,5}\\-?\\d{4}", options:.RegularExpressionSearch). i've updated my question with the complete code. Thanks!! — marchiore, Dec 06 '15 at 20:57
@marchiore: Are you trying to write a function to *extract* several phone numbers inside a larger string or just *validate* a standalone string? — Wiktor Stribiżew, Dec 09 '15 at 23:20
Does [this code](http://swiftstub.com/263874487) work for you? — Wiktor Stribiżew, Dec 09 '15 at 23:45
You mean you did not use the code I suggested, but you used your code? BTW, [your code works, too](http://swiftstub.com/464635533). There is an issue somewhere with global settings, perhaps. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Dec 10 '15 at 00:02
i've used your code and doesn't work either. It only work on your site, but when i run it on playground the return is nil — marchiore, Dec 10 '15 at 00:04
@stribizhev look at this http://imgur.com/WN6YiqF. Maybe it can be a bug? — marchiore, Dec 10 '15 at 00:29
I have just realized that this format was not supported by the regex. Here is a [working one](https://regex101.com/r/yB6sP3/1): [`pattern = "(?:(?:\\+\\d{2}\\h*)?(?:\$\\d{2}\$|\\d{2}))?\\h*(\\d{4,5}-?\\d{4})"`](http://swiftstub.com/86243623). Note that this phone number format is not mentioned in the OP. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Dec 10 '15 at 21:35
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/97571/discussion-between-marchiore-and-stribizhev). — marchiore, Dec 11 '15 at 01:21
Please check [this demo](http://swiftstub.com/508045295) - it just prints the matches. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Dec 11 '15 at 17:30
Is the second dashed example meant to have 10 digits or only 9? — Matt Le Fleur, Dec 15 '15 at 17:09
if you close to [this image](http://i.stack.imgur.com/ojdFO.png) you can see the difference on the dash of the "telefone" and the dash in the regex variable — marchiore, Dec 15 '15 at 17:56

Amen Jlili · Answer 1 · 2015-12-07T12:41:46.050

11

This may be not the most pleasant-looking regex but I believe it does the job.

(\+\d{2}\s*(\(\d{2}\))|(\(\d{2}\)))?\s*\d{4,5}\-?\d{4}

Demo: https://regex101.com/r/gM4uT3/3

Edit:

If I understood you correctly, this would only match the phone number without any area code etc (Just the Xs) inside a capturing group.

(?:\+\d{2}\s*(?:\(\d{2}\))|(?:\(\d{2}\)))?\s*(\d{4,5}\-?\d{4})

Demo: https://regex101.com/r/gM4uT3/6

edited Dec 07 '15 at 12:41

answered Dec 06 '15 at 19:25

Amen Jlili

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i updated my question with the new regex. but it isn't working yet, it didn't find the range into the string. – marchiore Dec 06 '15 at 21:09

Dean Taylor · Answer 2 · 2015-12-11T08:24:41.127

If the brackets are option ie. "+42 (43) 23123-2221" or "+42 43 23123-2221":

(?:(\+\d\d\s+)?((?:\(\d\d\)|\d\d)\s+)?)(\d{4,5}\-?\d{4})

Regular expression visualization

Alternatively if brackets are required:

(?:(\+\d\d\s+)?(\(\d\d\)\s+)?)(\d{4,5}\-?\d{4})

Regular expression visualization

You might want to replace \s+ with simply a single space depending on your spacing requirements.

Also note you might want to add anchors ^ to the beginning and $ and to the end to ensure complete match of string.

https://regex101.com/r/bR5uM3/2

http://swiftstub.com/44951173

var telefone = "+42 43 23123-2221"

// Use this regular expression to require "+42 (43) 23123-2221" brackets
//let phoneNumberRegEx = "(?:(\\+\\d\\d\\s+)?(\\(\\d\\d\\)\\s+)?)(\\d{4,5}\\-?\\d{4})";


// Use this regular expression to make them optional "+42 43 23123-2221" brackets
let phoneNumberRegEx = "(?:(\\+\\d\\d\\s+)?((?:\\(\\d\\d\\)|\\d\\d)\\s+)?)(\\d{4,5}\\-?\\d{4})";

let range = telefone.rangeOfString(phoneNumberRegEx, 
    options:.RegularExpressionSearch)

print("range \(range)")

var found = telefone.substringWithRange(range!)

print(found)



let regex = try! NSRegularExpression(pattern: phoneNumberRegEx, options: [])

let telephoneRange = NSMakeRange(0, telefone.characters.count)
let result = regex.firstMatchInString(telefone, options: NSMatchingOptions(rawValue: 0), range: telephoneRange)
let r1 = result!.rangeAtIndex(1)
let r2 = result!.rangeAtIndex(2)
let r3 = result!.rangeAtIndex(3)
if (r1.length > 0) {
    let phoneCountry = (telefone as NSString).substringWithRange(r1)
    print("country: \(phoneCountry)")
}
if (r2.length > 0) {
    let phoneArea = (telefone as NSString).substringWithRange(r2)
    print("area: \(phoneArea)")
}
if (r3.length > 0) {
    let phone = (telefone as NSString).substringWithRange(r3)
    print("phone: \(phone)")
}

This returns the following result:

range Optional(Range(0..<17))
+42 43 23123-2221
country: +42
area: 43
phone: 23123-2221

i used the regex (\\d{4,5}\\-?\\d{4}) because i only want the XXXX-XXXX and XXXXX-XXXX, but it only works on the online compiler, but it doesn't work on playground. I think is a bug on the ide. Can you run this code on xcode? — marchiore, Dec 11 '15 at 01:20
I've added a swiftstub link to show you the code working and further code to show the use of capture groups and extracting parts of the telephone number — Dean Taylor, Dec 11 '15 at 02:11
thanks!! i'll check it when i get home today, and post here the result! — marchiore, Dec 11 '15 at 11:18
i think the problem is with my IDE or it's a swift bug. Look at this [code running on playground](http://imgur.com/ZjrlaDA) it's the same you run on the online compiler — marchiore, Dec 12 '15 at 00:14

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 14 '15 at 23:39

2

I've found the solution!

The problem is the hyphen in telefone is U+002D HYPHEN-MINUS where the hyphen in phoneNumberRegEx is U+2011 NON-BREAKING HYPHEN. When I standardised everything on U+002D, the code worked on playground.

answered Dec 14 '15 at 23:39

marchiore

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 09 '17 at 06:51

2

Here is the solution, Looks a bit longer but works fine.

([+]?1+[-]?)?+([(]?+([0-9]{3})?+[)]?)?+[-]?+[0-9]{3}+[-]?+[0-9]{4}

It works for:

5417543010
541-754-3010
(541)754-3010
(541)-754-3011
+1-541-754-3010
1-541-754-3010

answered Aug 09 '17 at 06:51

Abhinav Dobhal

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Phone number Regex not working with swift

4 Answers4