Re: Best way to store/search phone numbers?

Consistently formatted data is easier to work with, so
I suggest storing the phone numbers without any
non-numeric characters. This would require writing
some application code to extract the numeric
characters, either within the database using a
trigger, or within the client application.

Arguments about whether to store data as a single
string/number or whether to break it up could go
either way. Probably you would want to at least have
a separate field for extension numbers, and if
international numbers are likely to be stored, for
country codes as well.

--- Andrew Gould <andrewgould(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote:
> My 2 cents: Concatenating data is easier than
> extracting data from a larger element.
>
> I'd use different fields (country code, area code,
> phone number, extension, etc.) and instruct the
> users
> not to use punctuation. The data will (hopefully)
> be
> a little cleaner; and easier to use. Then, if you
> want it all in one field, use an update query to
> concatenate the values with formatting characters
> into
> a separate field for easy reporting/printing.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> Andrew
>
> --- Raise Exception <raiseexception(at)yahoo(dot)com>
> wrote:
> > I am doing a standard company info database, with
> > phone numbers, and I
> > was wondering if there was a general concensus
> about
> > the best way to
> > store phone numbers. My problem is multiple users
> > will be entering in
> > data via a web browser (PHP backend), and the
> > formatting may not be
> > the same in all cases. I'm not sure if I should
> > store some sort of
> > standard formatting in a plain text field (e.g.,
> > "(555) 555-5555") or
> > strip out all the punctuation characters. There
> is
> > also the option of
> > storing the parts in different columns, but that
> > seems a bit overkill
> > (but would make searching possibly faster).
> >
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