How To Store Phone Numbers in MySQL

Store phone numbers as strings, not numbers.

• Phone numbers are identifiers that happen to use digits.
• Phone numbers starting with zero are valid, but may be interpreted as octal by a programming language.

Strip the phone number to only digits and store the extension in a separate field.

• This will allow for uniform formatting later.

For US, strip the prepending ’1′ digit

• Determine formatting based on length of the string (10 digits for US).