Phone number format ios

Question

In my app I am taking phone number as an input from user. Number should be in US format. I want to display it like (555)-888-888 dynamically. For example when user starts to input number when he reaches to 4 digit it shows number like this (555)-4 and so on. I tried to replaceString method but i found that it will not work.

Answer 1

Look at NBAsYouTypeFormatter class of libPhoneNumber-iOS library.

You create new instance of NSAsYouTypeFormatter with your US region code given:

NBAsYouTypeFormatter *asYouTypeFormatter = [[NBAsYouTypeFormatter alloc] initWithRegionCode:REGION_CODE_STRING];

Then every time user changes the phone number you call:

- (NSString*)inputDigit:(NSString*)nextChar;

or

- (NSString*)removeLastDigit;

Returned NSString from this two methods is your dynamically formatted phone number.

Answer 2

I am going to explain from scratch. So, new users can get the way from start.

Download libPhoneNumber-iOS library from here. At the bottom side of the page of that link, you will find what files you need to add to your project.

Now, follow below steps to implement.

(1) Import files in the view controller where you need your textfield to be formatted.

#import "NBPhoneMetaDataGenerator.h"
#import "NBPhoneNumberUtil.h"
#import "NBAsYouTypeFormatter.h"

and make instance of type NBAsYouTypeFormatter in header file:

NBAsYouTypeFormatter *asYouTypeFormatter;

(2) In the viewDidLoad method of that view controller, initialize that object taken earlier:

asYouTypeFormatter = [[NBAsYouTypeFormatter alloc] initWithRegionCode:@"IN"];

Note: @"IN" is for India. You can set it to anything you want. Refer to plist file that will be included in libPhoneNumber-iOS library to view full list of region codes.

(3) In delegate method of UITextField, dynamically manage text of yout textfield.

#pragma mark
#pragma mark - Phone Number textfield formatting

# define LIMIT 18 // Or whatever you want

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string
{
    // Just allow 18 digits
    if(!(([string length] + range.location) > LIMIT))
    {
        // Something entered by user
        if(range.length == 0)
        {
            [txtNumber setText:[asYouTypeFormatter inputDigit:string]];
        }

        // Backspace
        else if(range.length == 1)
        {
            [txtNumber setText:[asYouTypeFormatter removeLastDigit]];
        }
    }

    return NO;
}

Hope it helps !!!

Answer 3

I found a solution that I wanted to share because, even with the solutions previously presented here, I had a hard time finding how to make it work.

I have a tableView whose cells include a textField. One of this cells bear the phone number. It can be already filled-in in some cases, or not.

This is in Swift by the way.

---

1. Make sure your bridging header file nameOfYourProject-Bridging-Header includes the following line:

   #import "NBAsYouTypeFormatter.h"
   

2. Declare a property for the NBAsYouTypeFormatter:

   private var phoneFormatter: NBAsYouTypeFormatter!
   

3. in viewDidLoad, or didSet of a property, initialize the NBAsYouTypeFormatter with the country code:

   // yourRegionCode is a 2-digit country code (ISO 3166)
   phoneFormatter = NBAsYouTypeFormatter(regionCode: yourRegionCode)
   

4. Declare your viewController as a TextFieldDelegate and implement function shouldChangeCharactersInRange:

   func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
   
       // Phone number cell
       if cellContainsPhoneNumber { // This is specific to your own tableView
   
           // Formatting phone number as you type
           let textWithoutSpaces = textField.text.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(" ", withString: "", options: NSStringCompareOptions.LiteralSearch, range: nil)
           phoneFormatter.inputString(textWithoutSpaces) // This is the initial value of the phoneFormatter each time the delegate method is called
   
           let formattedNumber: String!
           if string == "" {
               formattedNumber = phoneFormatter.removeLastDigit()
           } else {
               formattedNumber = phoneFormatter.inputDigit(string)
           }
   
           // set the textField text with the new formattedNumber
           textField.text = formattedNumber
           return false 
       }
       return true
   }
   

---

This way, it works exactly as Apple's contact edition mechanism. Let me know if this helped you.

Answer 4

Here's an updated snippet that generally works for me (Swift 2.0):

func textField(textField: UITextField, shouldChangeCharactersInRange range: NSRange, replacementString string: String) -> Bool {
    // Allow up to 18 chars
    if !(string.characters.count + range.location > 18) {
        if range.length == 0 {
            // original text didn't change
            textField.text = phoneFormatter?.inputDigit(string)
        } else if range.length == 1 { 
            // user pressed backspace
            textField.text = phoneFormatter?.removeLastDigit()
        } else if range.length == textField.text?.characters.count {
            // text was cleared
            phoneFormatter?.clear()
            textField.text = ""
        }
    }
    return false
}

The main thing that changed was it allows for the user to press the "Clear" button or Select All -> Clear.

There are some edge cases such as the user editing specific digits in the phone number which this doesn't handle but could be easily added.

Answer 5

Here is a solution using libPhoneNumber that also handles the non trivial cases of editing in the middle of the number, cutting and pasting, selection and typing. It keeps the cursor stable and does not behave unexpectedly.

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string
{
    if(range.location == textField.text.length && range.length == 0)
    {
        // Something added at end
        textField.text = [numberFormatter inputDigit:string];
    }
    else if(range.location == textField.text.length-1 && range.length == 1)
    {
        // Backspace at end
        textField.text = [numberFormatter removeLastDigit];
    } else {
        // Other modification in middle
        NSString* input = textField.text;
        // New cursor position after modification
        NSUInteger cursorIdx = range.location + string.length;
        // If backspacing to delete a format character - just reposition the cursor.
        BOOL backspaceOnly = range.length == 1 && string.length == 0 && !isdigit([input characterAtIndex:range.location]);
        if(!backspaceOnly) {
            // make the modification, reformat the number
            input = [input stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];
            [numberFormatter clear];
            BOOL rememberCursorPos = NO;
            NSString* text;
            // reinput the number to the formatter
            // remembering the first digit position at or after the cursor
            for (int i = 0; i < input.length; ++i)
            {
                if(i == cursorIdx) {
                    rememberCursorPos = YES;
                }
                char digit = [input characterAtIndex:i];
                switch(digit) {
                    case '0':
                    case '1':
                    case '2':
                    case '3':
                    case '4':
                    case '5':
                    case '6':
                    case '7':
                    case '8':
                    case '9':
                        if(!rememberCursorPos) {
                            text = [numberFormatter inputDigit:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%c", digit]];
                        } else {
                            text = [numberFormatter inputDigitAndRememberPosition:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%c", digit]];
                            rememberCursorPos = NO;
                        }
                        break;
                }
            }
            // reformat the number
            textField.text = text;
            // get updated cursor position (formatter position starts at 1)
            cursorIdx = numberFormatter.getRememberedPosition - 1;
        }
        // reposition the cursor
        UITextPosition* position = [textField positionFromPosition:textField.beginningOfDocument offset:cursorIdx];
        textField.selectedTextRange = [textField textRangeFromPosition:position toPosition:position];
    }
    return NO;
}

Answer 6

You can use this library for formatting input during typing https://github.com/luximetr/AnyFormatKit

Example

let textInputController = TextInputController()

let textInput = TextInputField() // or TextInputView or any TextInput
textInputController.textInput = textInput // setting textInput

let formatter = TextInputFormatter(textPattern: "### (###) ###-##-##", prefix: "+12")
textInputController.formatter = formatter // setting formatter

In this case TextInputController will format text in your textField or textView.