46elks - E.164 Phone Number Format

The E.164 Phone Number Format

All phone numbers passed to and from the 46elks API are formatted in the E.164 format, sometimes just called ”international” format. This article explains the format as well as explaining how to convert a locally formatted number, such as (216) 208-0460, to an E.164 formatted number such as +12162080460.

Format

An E.164 number has three components:

The prefix ”+”.
A 1-3 digit country code.
A subscriber number.

For instance, the numbers +46766861004, +17162741616 and +85294504964 can be broken down as follows:

Prefix	CC	Subscriber number
+	46 (🇸🇪 Sweden)	766861004
+	1 (🇺🇸🇨🇦 North America)	7162741616
+	852 (🇭🇰 Hong Kong)	94504964

Converting from local formats to E.164

It's pretty straghtforward to convert a locally formatted phone number to an E.164 formatted number if you know the country code:

Remove any spaces, parenthesis or other punctuation.
If the number begins with a zero, remove the leading zero.
Prepend the country code.
Prepend a ”+”.

For instance, the US number (216) 208-0460 would be converted to +12162080460 as follows:

(216) 208-0460 -> 2162080460 (remove punctuation)
2162080460 -> 2162080460 (no zero to remove)
2162080460 -> 12162080460 (prepend ”1”, the US country code)
12162080460 -> +12162080460 (prepend a ”+”)

Country codes

If you're not sure what your country code is, check out our country codes page where we have the full list.