National conventions for writing telephone numbers

Every country has different local conventions for writing telephone numbers. Writing a telephone number in a different format will look strange to a resident, and may lead to incorrect dialing when area codes are omitted for local calls.

All numbers on this page are written for dialing within that country, and do not include any international dialing codes (usually indicated with a +). In examples, a numeric digit is used only if the digit is the same in every number, and letters to illustrate groups. X is used as a wildcard to represent any digits in lists of numbers.

North America

United States, Canada, and other NANP countries

24 countries and territories share the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), with a single country code and dialing plan. All area codes are the same length, so areas with many phone numbers overlay multiple area codes.

The traditional convention for phone numbers is (AAA) BBB-BBBB, where AAA is the area code and BBB-BBBB is the subscriber number. The format AAA-BBB-BBBB or sometimes 1-AAA-BBB-BBBB is often seen; the number 1 is the long-distance access code, and is usually required before the area code when calling long distance. This is the trunk code and is omitted for international calls (the country code for the NANP is also 1). Sometimes the stylized format of AAA.BBB.BBBB is seen, more common since the rise of the Internet and the dot-separated notation of domain names and their subdomains.

Since mandatory ten-digit dialing began in certain areas for long distance even within area codes around 1995 (in order to make a large new range of area codes available), and even for local calls in some metro areas, the notation in those areas has sometimes changed. The area code is now often prefixed as "AAA-" (no "1-"), or sometimes "AAA " (with only a space), instead of "(AAA) ". In metro Atlanta, it is common for example to see people write shorthand 4, 6, or 7, followed by ")" (end parenthesis) or "-" (hyphen), or sometimes "/" (forward slash) or just a space, instead of the full 404 (the city), 770 (the suburbs since 1995), or 678 (overlaid on both in 1998). This however will be complicated by the Georgia Public Service Commission's choice of 470 for the next overlay code.

In Canadian English, it has been established that numbers be written with hyphens between each sequence, as follows: 1-AAA-BBB-CCCC or AAA-BBB-CCCC, 10-digit dialing being required in certain areas of Ontario, notably the 519 region and the 613 region (Ottawa).

Quebec

In the province of Quebec, where French is the first language, the Office québécois de la langue française has established that phone numbers must be written with spaces first and then a hyphen for the last sequence, as follows: 1 AAA BBB-CCCC. Educational institutions of Quebec will mark improperly written phone numbers as orthographical mistakes in academic texts.

Mexico

In Mexico, mobile phone numbers are always written with the area code as XXX-XXX-XXXX, regardless of the area code's length. In Guadalajara, for example, where the area code is 33 and the phone numbers begin with 3 or 1, mobile phone numbers are usually of the form 331-XXX-XXXX or 333-XXX-XXXX.

The numbering scheme is different in the Federal District (Mexico City). The two digit area code (55) is followed by an eight digit local number. They are usually formatted as (55) XXXX XXXX or (55) XX XX XX XX.

Europe

Denmark

Danish telephone numbers are 8 digits long, and normally written in four groups of two separated by spaces, AA AA AA AA. In recent years it has also become common to write them in two groups of four, AAAA AAAA

France

French telephone numbers are 10 digits long written in groups of two separated by spaces, in the format 0A BB BB BB BB where 0 (the trunk prefix) was created in 1996 to be a carrier selection code, and A is the "territorial area code" included in the subscriber number A BB BB BB BB.

The A (territorial area code) can be 1 to 5 (for geographic numbers, depending of the area in the country, respectively: Paris/Suburbs, N-W, N-E, S-E, S-W), and it designates nationwide numbers when its is 6 or 7 (mobile numbers), 8 (special numbers), or 9 (phone over IP over xDSL/non-geographic numbers).
The numbering plan is a closed one, all digits must always be dialed.
The first two or three B can designate the area (old area code) for geographic numbers, or the operator to whom the number resource belongs.

There are also "short numbers" for emergencies (such as 112), that are written 1C or 1CC; and short numbers for special services, written 10 CC, 11C CCC, or 36 CC. 00 is the international access code.

International format is +33 A BB BB BB BB where the leading trunk prefix 0 disappears (it must not be dialed from abroad). This format can be directly used in mobile phones.

Germany

German telephone numbers have no fixed length for area code and subscriber number.

There are many ways to format a telephone number in Germany. The most prominent is DIN 5008 but the international format E.123 and Microsoft's canonical address format are also very common.

Form	Example
DIN 5008	0AAAA BBBBBB
DIN 5008 with Extension	0AAAA BBBBBB-XX
DIN 5008 international	+49 AAAA BBBBBB
E.123 local	(0AAAA) BBBBBB
E.123 international	+49 AAAA BBBBBB
Microsoft	+49 (AAAA) BBBBBB
Old	0AAAA-BBBBBB
Very old	0AAAA/BBBBBB-XX

Numbers are often written in blocks of two. Example: +49 (A AA) B BB BB (Note the blocks go from right to left)

The very old format and E.123 local form are often used by older people but also for technical reasons.

Iceland

Main article: Telephone numbers in Iceland

Phone numbers in Iceland are seven digits long and generally written in the form XXX XXXX or XXX-XXXX.

Italy

See Telephone numbers in Italy

Netherlands

Telephone numbers in the Netherlands are 8, 10 or 11 digits long (including the trunk prefix '0'). The area code ('A') is commonly separated with a dash ('-') and sometimes a space from the subscriber's number ('B'). Alternatively, the area code (including the trunk prefix) can be enclosed in parentheses.

The length of the area code for landlines is either 2 or 3 digits, depending on the population density of the area. This leaves 7 or 6 digits for the subscriber's number, resulting in a format of either 0AA-BBBBBBB or 0AAA-BBBBBB. Cellphone numbers are assigned the 1-digit area code 6, leaving 8 digits for the subscriber's number: 06-BBBBBBBB. Service numbers (area codes 800, 900, 906 and 909) have either 4 or 7 remaining digits, making them 7 or 11 digits in total: 0AAA-BBBB or 0AAA-BBBBBBB.

The trunk prefix '0' is dropped when prefixed by the country code: +31 AA BBBBBBBB, +31 6 BBBBBBBB, etcetera.

Norway

Norwegian telephone numbers are 8 digits long. A number to a fixed line is written in four groups of two separated by spaces, AA AA AA AA. Cellphone numbers are written in three groups, AAA AA AAA. This makes it easy to determine if the B-number is SMS capable. Mobile numbers start with 4 or 9.

Poland

Telephone numbers in Poland are 9 digits long. For mobile phones, the preferred format is AAA-AAA-AAA. For landline phones, the preferred format is AA-BBB-BB-BB, where AA is area code. Occasionally, you can encounter numbers formatted as (AA) BBB-BB-BB. Omitting area code is not permitted, because nowadays it is always required.

Russia

Telephone numbers in Russia are 10 digits long. Trunk prefix is 8 (or 8 CC if using alternative operator, where CC is 21–23, 51–55), it is always separated from area code by space. Length of geographical area codes (A) is usually 3 to 5 digits, depending on population density of the area; length of non-geographical area codes is 3. The groups of numbers of the subscriber's number (B) are separated by dashes ('-'): BBB-BB-BB, BB-BB-BB, B-BB-BB. Thus, the correct way to write local number is, e.g., 8 AAAA BB-BB-BB or (8 AAAA) BB-BB-BB to indicate that area code dialing is optional. Area code dialing is mandatory in all non-geographical area codes and optional in most geographical area codes; however, there are exceptions. For example, since July 1, 2012 area code dialing is mandatory in Moscow (area codes 495, 498, 499), so the only proper way to write Moscow number is 8 AAA BBB-BB-BB. In current usage, it is very common to see numbers (incorrectly) written as 8 (AAA) BBB-BB-BB. This usage is wrong, as the parentheses are meant to indicate the part of number that may be omitted.

Spain

Spanish telephone numbers are nine digits long, starting with '9' or '8' for fixed lines (excluding '90x' and '80x') or with '6' for mobile phones. They are normally written as a first group of three numbers and then three groups of two separated by spaces, for example, AAA AA AA AA, though three groups of three AAA AAA AAA and 2-3-2-2 AA AAA AA AA (a holdover from when numbers were only seven digits long and written 3-2-2) are also seen. Mobile numbers are usually grouped by threes AAA AAA AAA.

Switzerland

Swiss telephone numbers are 10 digits long, and usually written 0AA BBB BB BB where 0AA is the "national destination code" and BBB BB BB is the subscriber number. Sometimes numbers are written +41 AA BBB BB BB to include Switzerland's country calling code. Certain nationwide destination codes, such as for toll-free or premium-rate telephone numbers, are written 0800 BBB BBB or 0900 BBB BBB. There are also "short numbers" for emergencies such as 112 that are written 1CC or 1CCC.

United Kingdom

Main article: Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom

Conventions for writing telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are quite complicated due to the varying length of area codes and subscriber numbers, plus a history of inadequate changes to increase the number of available telephone numbers.

STD codes are typically surrounded by parentheses, indicating that they are optional for local callers, and subscriber numbers are separated into blocks with spaces. Parentheses are not normally used on non-geographic area codes and mobile phone numbers.

STD codes with the form 02x are used for the largest urban areas and always have 8-digit subscriber numbers and should be written as (02x) AAAA AAAA. Area codes with the form 011x or 01x1 are used for most of the major population centers outside of London, always have 7-digit subscriber numbers and should be written as (01xx) AAA BBBB. Other area codes have the form 01xxx with 6-digit subscriber numbers and should be written as (01xxx) AAAAAA. There are a small number of these areas (about 7%) where the local number has only five digits, and these are written (01AAA) BBBBB. There are also about a dozen STD codes with an extra digit on the end of the area code and then a five digit local number, written as (01AA AA) BBBBB, and just one area with similar (01AA AA) STD code but only four digits in the local number, written as (01AA AA) BBBB.

Numbers for mobile phones are formatted as 07AAA BBBBBB as they always contain ten digits after the '0' trunk prefix. Pager numbers follow the similar 076AA BBBBBB format.

Most non-geographic numbers (in the 03, 05, 08 and 09 ranges) are formatted as 0AAA BBB BBBB. However, these numbers are sometimes written in other formats. Sometimes this is to try to make the number easier to read and remember, but this can also confuse the reader as to the true nature of the number, and therefore the true monetary cost of calling it. Some of these numbers allocated before the year 2000 have one fewer digit and are formatted as 0A00 BBBBBB.

Domestically, there are also a number of special service numbers such as 100 for the operator, 123 for the speaking clock and 155 for the international operator, as well as 118 AAA for various directory enquiry services, and 116 AAA for various helplines. For some services, the number you call will depend on which operator you use to connect the call. Both 112 and 999 work for calling the emergency services. These numbers cannot be called from abroad.

When calling from abroad, the initial '0' trunk prefix is not required. UK numbers shown with a zero immediately after the country code, either with or without parentheses, are incorrectly formatted. Most non-geographic numbers with 03xx, 0500, 08xx or 09xx STD codes cannot be connected when dialed from outside the UK.

Incorrect presentation of UK area codes and numbers

Due to the separation and reunification of the London STD code, many London numbers are spoken and written as if there are multiple STD codes: 0207, 0208 and 0203. Due to the Big Number Change#Northern Ireland, many Northern Irish numbers are written incorrectly in the format 028XX XXXXXX when they should be in the format 028 XXXX XXXX. Similar formatting problems affect all 011x and 02x area codes changed between 1995 and 2000 by PhONEday and the Big Number Change.

Turkey

In Turkey the format for telephone numbers is commonly seen as 0BBB AAA AA AA. While landline numbers having the prefix 02BB AAA AA AA, mobile numbers have the prefix 05BB AAA AA AA. Landline area codes are separated by cities and only one city, Istanbul, has two area codes: 216 for the Asian side, and 212 for the European side. Mobile numbers however are separated by carriers. There are three mobile carriers in Turkey: Vodafone TR, Turkcell and AVEA. Turkcell has the prefix 053B AAA AA AA, Vodafone TR has the prefix 054B AAA AA AA, and AVEA has the prefix 055B AAA AA AA. The "0" on every prefix is an Area Code Exit code that must be dialed when a number with a different area code is being called. So when calling from outside of Turkey those 0's are not dialed. The dialing format when calling from outside Turkey is +90 BBB AAA AA AA and NOT +90 0BBB AAA AA AA. Unlike the north american system, the Country Exit Code isn't 011 but 00. So it's one "0" to exit area and one more "0" to exit the country.

Asia

India

Telephone numbers in India are 10 digits long (excluding an initial zero which is required at times) and fall in at least four distinct categories:

1. Landlines: Written as 0AAA-BBBBBBB, where AAA is the Subscriber Trunk Dialing code (long distance code) and BBBBBBB is the phone number. The total length of the Subscriber Trunk Dialing code and the phone number is 10 digits.
2. Mobiles: Written as AAAAA-BBBBB for ease of remembering (though the prefix is either 2-digits or 4-digits in the numbering plan). Mobile numbers which are not local need to be prefixed by a 0 while dialing, or by +91 (91 is the country code for India). A mobile number written as +91-AAAAA-BBBBB is valid throughout India, and in other countries where the + is recognized as a prefix to the country code.
3. Toll Free: These are usually ten digit numbers beginning with 1-800. Sometimes they are accessible (or are toll-free) only when called from the government-owned telephone corporation, BSNL/MTNL.
4. Service numbers: These are usually three or four digit numbers (e.g. Police is 100) used to access an emergency service (Fire, Ambulance, Police, Roadside assistance) or a value-added service.

China

1. Landlines: In China, the length of phone numbers varies from city to city. It is usually written as (0XXX) YYYY YYYY, where 0 is the trunk code, XXX is the area code (2 or 3 digits) and YYYY YYYY is the local number (not necessarily 8 digits). For example, (0755) XXXX YYYY indicates a Shenzhen number. XXXXYYYY is dialled locally, 0755XXXXYYYY is dialled in other areas inside the country, while, for international calls to Shenzhen, the 0 is dropped and is written +86 755 XXXX YYYY.
2. Mobiles: The 11 digit code is always written in full in the whole China e.g. 1WX YYYY ZZZZ. Each WX is assigned to a service provider while W is usually '3' or '5'. The remaining 8 digits are the subscriber number.

Hong Kong

Every number, except special service numbers, are 8 numbers long and grouped as XXXX YYYY. There are no area codes now.

Malaysia

1. Landlines: In Malaysia, the landlines number at Sabah, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan and Sarawak are written as +60XX-YYY-ZZZ. In Johor, Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, Pulau Pinang and Perak are written as +60X-YYY-ZZZZ. In Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur and Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya are written as +60X-YYYY-ZZZZ.
2. Mobiles: The mobile number code for this country is +601X-YYY-ZZZZ. All the mobile telecoms in Malaysia required to type their own mobile code to call.
3. Toll Free: Malaysia's Toll-free numbers are start from 1800 and it's phone code is 1800-XXX-YYY
4. Local Charged Hotline: Malaysia's Local Charged Hotline code are start from 1300 and it's phone code is 1300-XXX-YYY
5. Service Number: The service number usually is form in 3 or 4 digits. Example: 999 is for Police, Ambulance and Fire Engine hotline.

Philippines

Telephone numbers in the Philippines are written as +63 (X) YYY ZZZZ or +63 (XX) YYY ZZZZ for international callers. For domestic calls, the country code (+63) is omitted and a trunk prefix (0) is placed. For local calls, both the 0 and area code are omitted. Mobile numbers are written as +63 (XXX) YYY ZZZZ or 0 (XXX) YYY ZZZZ.

Singapore

In Singapore, every phone number is written as +65-XXXX-YYYY or +65 XXXX YYYY.

Subscriber numbers have 8 digits and there are no area codes.

Oceania

Australia

Australian telephone numbers are 10 digits long, and can be written 0A BBBB BBBB or 04MM MBB BBB (for mobile telephone numbers), where 0A is the optional "area code" and BBBB BBBB is the subscriber number. 04MM M are allocated per mobile network. When the number is to be seen by an international audience, it is written +61 A BBBB BBBB or +61 4MM MBB BBB. When written for a local audience, the optional area code is omitted. The area code is sometimes written within parentheses (0A) BBBB BBBB, but this usage is becoming less common.

Ten-digit non-geographic numbers beginning with 1 are written 1X0Y BBB BBB, where X is 8 for toll free numbers, 3 for fixed-fee numbers and 9 for premium services. Six digit non-geographic numbers are written 13 BB BB or 13B BBB; these are fixed-fee numbers. B's are sometimes written as letters. Occasionally, non-geographic numbers have more or fewer digits. These are written according to the third digit: if it is 0, the ten-digit pattern is used; otherwise, the six-digit pattern is.

Central America

Central American countries write the country code for their own and other Central American countries in parentheses, instead of using a + sign, as recommended by E.123. For example, for a number in Costa Rica they would write (506) 2222-2222 instead of +506 2222-2222. It is quite common for Central American businesses to write the whole phone number, including the country code in parentheses, on business cards, signs, stationery, etc.

Costa Rica

Costa Rican telephone numbers are 8 digits long, and are usually written in the format 2NNN-NNNN (for landlines), 8NNN-NNNN (for mobile telephone numbers from local telephone company ICE), 6NNN-NNNN (for mobile telephone numbers from Movistar) and 7NNN-NNNN (for mobile phone numbers from Claro). Toll-free numbers use the format 800-NNN-NNNN and premium-rate telephone numbers are written 90x-NNN-NNNN where x varies according to the type of service offered. There are also "short numbers" for emergencies such as 911.

When Costa Rica switched from 7 to 8 digit numbers, it used a scheme similar to the 8 digit number scheme already in place in El Salvador at that time.

El Salvador

El Salvadoran telephone numbers are 8 digits long, usually written in the format 2NNN-NNNN (for landline use) and 7NNN-NNNN (for mobile telephone numbers). Premium-rate numbers start with a 9.

Honduras

Honduran telephone numbers have either 7 digits (for landlines), which are usually written NNN-NNNN, or 8 digits (for mobile numbers), which are written NNNN-NNNN. The fact that landline and mobile numbers are different lengths sometimes causes confusion.

In 2010, an additional digit (2) was added to the start of land line numbers, thus standardizing the length at 8 digits.

South America

Argentina

Argentinian telephone numbers always consist of 11 digits, including the geographical area code.

The Area Code

The area code can have 3, 4 or 5 digits, the first being always 0 (indicative of long distance calls). Moreover, in 1999 the whole country (except Buenos Aires, and Greater Buenos Aires) was divided into two zones. Roughly and with exceptions, one includes most of the northern half of the country; and the other, most of the southern half, though the actual reason for this division is not geographical, but the fact that each zone is administered by a different company.

So, the second digit of area codes can be 1 (only in Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires code "011") or else a 2 (for towns in the southern half of the country) or a 3 (for the northern half). For example, (011) for Buenos Aires, (0341) for Rosario, (02627) for San Rafael. And the subscriber's number will accordingly have 6, 7 or 8 digits, to complete the eleven digits.

Phone numbers are mostly written as:

• (011) xxxx-xxxx (Note that only the (011) code has 3 digits),
• (0xxx) xxx-xxxx or
• (0xxxx) xx-xxxx

The area code is usually written between brackets.

The Subscriber's Number

In 1999, a general reform was introduced to telephone numbers, including the 1, 2 and 3 for area codes as explained above, and adding a 4 at the beginning of all subscriber's numbers. However, since the reform some local numbers starting with a 5 are beginning to appear. Moreover, a hyphen is usually placed to separate the last four digits. Code areas do not usually include one single city or town, but several neighbouring towns. So, the part before the hyphen (called a prefix) is usually indicative of either a town within the code area, or even of a part of a larger city, which is assigned several prefixes. As a matter of fact, each area code has only a limited number of prefixes assigned, and these are locally limited within the area.

For example the (0342) area has numbers with a 456- prefix, mostly located in the centre of Santa Fe. It also has numbers with a 460- prefix, usually for phone lines in the north east of the city. And there are lines with a 474- prefix, located in Santo Tomé. But no 444- prefix exists within this area. As for the part after the hyphen, it may usually be any succession of four digits, though sometimes a prefix is shared by two or more small towns, and then, the first digit after the hyphen carries the distinction between towns.

Sometimes, a prefix is reserved for official numbers, that is for offices depending on the national, provincial or local state. In the (0342) area, this is 457-, and phones within this prefix communicate with each other, by simply dialling the four final digits, though from other phones the prefix must be dialled as well.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones use the same area codes as landline telephones, but the number begins with a "15", added to a string of 6, 7 or 8 digits, just as described above. After the "15", the remainder of the number can start with a 3, a 4, a 5 or a 6. This "15" may be dropped when a call is made to a mobile phone in a different code area. And when sending text messages, the receiver's number is best dialled both without the "15" and with the long distance code, even if both sender and receiver share a code area, but without the initial "0".

To sum up, given the mobile phone (011) 154-123-4567, you will call it by dialling:

• 154-123-4567 (within the same code area),
• (011) [15]4-123-4567 (from a different code area, including or omitting the 15),

And you will send messages to:

• 11 4-123-4567 (even when your phone has also a 011 number).

Special Numbers

Two sorts of special numbers exist in Argentina. On the one hand, three-digit numbers are used for special services such as to call the police, fire brigade or emergency doctors, as well as to hear the official time. Also telephone companies have three-digit numbers to report a problem in the lines, or to ask for another subscriber's number, when a paper directory is not available.

Additionally, there are other longer numbers. These include (but are not limited to):

• 0800 xxx abcd
• 0810 xxx abcd
• 0600 xxx abcd

(where the xxx indicates the same digit dialled three times, and a, b, c and d may each be any of the ten digits)

0800 lines are used by companies, and it is the receiver and not the caller who pays for the call, so that potential clients are encouraged to contact business companies for free.

0810 lines are paid by the caller, but the cost is for a local call, even if you are calling from a different area. The remaining is covered by the receiver.

And 0600 numbers are special more expensive lines, that serve such purposes as TV games, fund collecting for charity companies, hot lines, etc. Basically a part of the extra money charged to the caller is sent to the owner of the line.

Often the abcd or even (xx)xabcd part of the number is chosen, if available, to form a word that is representative of the company holding the number.

Brazil

Brazil is divided into 67 two-digit geographical area codes, all of which with eight-digit numbers, in the format (AA) NNNN-NNNN. Phone lists can use NNNN NN NN. Telephone numbers can also be written with carrier selection codes, in the format (0CCAA) NNNN-NNNN, and when a carrier number is not suggested, one can replace carrier code for xx or XX.

Peru

Peru uses 2-digit area codes followed by 6-digit subscriber numbers outside of Lima. In Lima the area code is "1" and the subscriber number has 7 digits, divided XXX XXXX. The "trunk 0" is often used, especially for numbers outside Lima. For example, a phone number in Arequipa might be written (054) XX-XXXX.

Cellphone numbers used to have 8 digits with the first digit always being 9. In 2008 an additional digit was added to cellphone numbers, while land numbers remained the same. The previous convention for cell numbers in Lima was usually 9XXX XXXX, though 9-XXX XXXX was also used. With the new 9-digit number, the form 9XX XXX XXX is becoming increasingly common as opposed to 9 XXXX XXXX, 9X XXX XXXX or 9XXXX XXXX.

Outside Lima cellphone numbers used to be 9 followed by six digits, i.e., 9 XXX XXX. The 2008 changes were somewhat more complicated. In four departments (similar to states), a 2 digit code now has to be entered before the 9. In the example of Arequipa, the code of 95 has to be entered before the 9, so the new numeration is 959 XXX XXX. The other codes are 94 for La Libertad (Trujillo), 96 for Piura and 97 for Lambayeque (Chiclayo). In the other 19 rural departments, the 9 is followed by the department's 2-digit area code then the 6-digit subscriber number. For example, the area code for Cusco is 84, so their new cellphone numeration is 984 XXX XXX. The effect is that all Peruvian cellphone numbers now have 9 digits; under the old system they had 8 digits in Lima and 7 everywhere else.