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How to normalize phone numbers to a single format in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationHeads up: Excel and Google Sheets do this differently.
Excel
=TEXT(VALUE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"+",""),"(",""),")",""),"-","")," ","")),"+0-000-000-0000")Google Sheets
=REGEXREPLACE(REGEXREPLACE(A2, "[^\d+]", ""), "^\+?(\d)(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})$", "+$1-$2-$3-$4")Try it with your data
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Step by step
- 1Place raw phone numbers in A2:A5 (e.g. (555) 123-4567, 555.123.4567, +15551234567).
- 2In Google Sheets, enter =REGEXREPLACE(REGEXREPLACE(A2, "[^\d+]", ""), "^\+?(\d)(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})$", "+$1-$2-$3-$4") in B2.
- 3The first REGEXREPLACE strips everything except digits and the + sign. The second applies a capture-group pattern to reformat as +1-555-123-4567.
- 4In Excel, chain multiple SUBSTITUTE calls to strip +, (, ), -, and spaces, then use TEXT with a custom number format to add the desired separators.
- 5Validate: check that all results start with + and are exactly 15 characters for E.164 format, using =LEN(B2)=15 in a helper column.
Tips
- The Sheets REGEXREPLACE approach handles country code variations — adjust the capture group pattern for non-US numbers by changing the digit grouping (e.g. ^(\d{2})(\d{4})(\d{4})$ for 10-digit numbers without country code).
- Excel's TEXT function treats the number as a numeric value, so leading zeros and the + sign are lost. Use SUBSTITUTE-chain output as text by prepending & "+" manually rather than relying on TEXT format codes.
- For large datasets with many phone formats, Power Query (Excel) or Apps Script (Sheets) is significantly more maintainable than nested SUBSTITUTE/REGEXREPLACE chains.
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Frequently asked
What if phone numbers have different country codes?
Adjust the regex capture groups to match your target format. For international E.164 without rewriting, use =REGEXREPLACE(REGEXREPLACE(A2, "[^\d]", ""), "^(\d+)$", "+$1") to just ensure a + prefix on the digit-stripped string.
Why does Excel's TEXT approach sometimes return zeros or wrong numbers?
Phone numbers with a leading 0 or country code lose precision when converted to a numeric VALUE. Keep phone numbers as text throughout — avoid VALUE() and instead build the formatted string with string concatenation and MID/LEFT.
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