Optimize a regex for German mobile numbers

Question

I have a Regex which extracts German mobile phone numbers from a website:

[^\d]((\+49|0049|0)1[567]\d{1,2}([ \-/]*\d){7})(?!\d)

As you can see in the demo it works quite well. The only pattern which doesn't match yet is:

+49 915175461907

Please see more examples in the linked demo. The problem is the whitespace behind +49.

How do I need to change the current regex pattern in order to match even these kind of patterns?

A single optional space can be matched with space plus question mark. — Michael Butscher, Oct 18 '21 at 13:55
Instead of the `[^\d]` your have at the start, use a negative look-behind: `(? — Tomalak, Oct 18 '21 at 14:04
Not correct dupe because problem is not just about allowing spaces. Negated character class `[^\d]` will cause it to not match if input starts with `+4915207829969` — anubhava, Oct 26 '21 at 07:00

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 18 '21 at 14:33

A better regex would be:

(?<!\d)(?:\+49|0049|0) *[19][1567]\d{1,2}(?:[ /-]*\d){7,8}(?!\d)

Updated RegEx Demo

Changes:

(?<!\d): Make sure previous character is not a digit
[19][1567]: Match 1 or 9 followed by one of the [1567] digit
{7,8}: Match 7 or 8 repetitions of given construct
Better to keep an unescaped hyphen at first or last position in a character class
Avoid capturing text that you don't need by using non-capture group

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 18 '21 at 14:02

3

No brain method : removing space before regex.

Otherwise matching non withe space in regex is \s so (maybe too much parenthesis)

[^\d](((\+49|0049|0)([\s]{0,1})1)[567]\d{1,2}([ \-/]*\d){7})(?!\d)

answered Oct 18 '21 at 14:02

Mayot

39
2

Thanks a lot. Works great except for the numbers which start have a ``9`` like this one: ``+49 915175461907`` – PParker Oct 18 '21 at 14:04

KZiovas · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-26T10:42:31.637

1

Add an optional white space:

[^\d]((\+49|0049|0)\s?(1|9)[1567]\d{1,2}([ \-/]*\d){7,8})(?!\d)

Update-Capturing beginning of line

If you want is to match numbers without them necessarily starting with a line break you can use this. It matches anything except digits before phone number:

 (^|[^\d])((\+49|0049|0)\s?(1|9)[1567]\d{1,2}([ \-/]*\d){7,8})(?!\d)

test it here

edited Oct 26 '21 at 10:42

answered Oct 18 '21 at 13:55

KZiovas

1,878
8
22

Optimize a regex for German mobile numbers

3 Answers3