Format Phone Number into Standard Styles

How to use the phone number formatter

1. Paste or type the raw phone number into the Phone number field. Digits, spaces, dashes and plus signs are all accepted.
2. Select the two-letter Country code that matches the number's origin. This tells the formatter which dialing rules to apply.
3. The formatted results appear immediately below as you type. No button press is needed.
4. Copy the style you need: E.164 for APIs, National for display, or RFC3966 for click-to-call links.

What each format means

When you format phone number strings, four standard representations cover nearly every use case:

• E.164: The global standard defined by the ITU-T. It starts with a plus sign, followed by the country calling code and the subscriber number, with no spaces or punctuation. Example: +12025550147. Most APIs, databases and SMS gateways require this form.
• National: The way people in the number's home country write it, including the trunk prefix (like 0 in the UK or Germany) and local spacing or punctuation. Example: (202) 555-0147 for the US or 020 7123 4567 for the UK.
• International: Similar to E.164 but uses spaces instead of running all digits together, making it easier for humans to read. Example: +1 202 555 0147.
• RFC3966: A URI scheme for telephone numbers used in HTML click-to-call links. It prefixes the E.164 string with tel: and separates groups with hyphens. Example: tel:+1-202-555-0147.

How the formatting logic works

The tool first strips every character that is not a digit or a leading plus sign. If the input starts with +, the parser reads the next one to three digits as the country calling code and matches it against known codes (for example, 1 for North America, 44 for the UK, 61 for Australia). If there is no plus sign, the selected country dropdown supplies the calling code.

Next, the formatter checks whether the national significant number begins with a trunk prefix. In countries like the UK, Germany and Australia, domestic numbers start with a 0 that must be dropped when converting to E.164. For instance, the UK number 020 7123 4567 becomes +44 20 7123 4567 internationally: the leading 0 is removed and replaced by +44.

Finally, spacing rules specific to each country are applied to produce the national and international display forms. The US uses a 3-3-4 grouping (XXX) XXX-XXXX, while Australia uses a 4-3-3 pattern for mobiles 04XX XXX XXX.

Common formats by country

This table shows how the same logical number looks across different regions when you format phone number values using standard rules.

Where to use each style

Choosing the right representation prevents bugs and improves user experience. Use E.164 whenever you store numbers in a database, pass them to an SMS gateway, or send them through a REST API. Its lack of spaces and punctuation makes it unambiguous for machines.

Use the National format when displaying a number back to users who are in the same country. People recognize their local conventions instantly, whereas E.164 can look unfamiliar on a business card or checkout page.

Use RFC3966 inside HTML anchor tags for click-to-call functionality. Mobile browsers intercept this URI scheme and open the native dialer directly. You can generate the correct string with this tool and paste it straight into your markup.

Mistakes to avoid

A frequent error is storing numbers with local formatting characters like parentheses, spaces or dashes. When you later try to dial or message those strings programmatically, the extra characters cause failures. Always normalize to E.164 before saving.

Another issue is mishandling the trunk prefix. If you take a UK number written as 07911 123456 and simply prepend +44, you get +4407911123456, which is invalid. The leading zero must be stripped first, yielding +447911123456.

Finally, do not assume every country has the same number length. While US numbers are always 10 digits nationally, German numbers vary between 10 and 12 digits, and some countries have even shorter lengths. Rely on established metadata rather than hard-coded regular expressions.

Worked examples

Each result below was produced by the same code the tool runs, so you can check your own numbers against them.