View source for Help:Type Telephone number

{{Type
 |datatype name=Telephone number
 |description=Holds international telephone numbers based on the {{RFC|3966}} standard
 |component=Semantic MediaWiki
 |minimum version=1.5.0
 |type id=_tel
 |lang = en
}}
The [[datatype]] '''telephone number''' is used for international telephone numbers that are to be stored in a standardized format. The datatype will try to interpret the phone number according to {{RFC|3966}}[[CiteRef::ietf:rfc:3966]] so that it can be exported in a machine-readable format using <code>tel:</code> URIs. 

Applications that do not need any re-use or validation of telephone numbers can also use datatype {{DataType|Text}} to store arbitrary human-readable phone number strings.

== Declaration and Usage ==
A property of this type can be declared by writing <code><nowiki>[[has type::Telephone number]]</nowiki></code> on the property page.

Values of this property are complete phone number strings including country code. It is allowed to use the symbols "<code>/</code>", "<code>-</code>", "<code>.</code>", or "<code> </code>" to structure phone numbers in a readable way. These symbols will be used for the display of the data. Note that for the storage of data only the symbols "<code>/</code>", "<code>-</code>", "<code>.</code>" are used but not a space. If spaces were specified for display a hyphen will however be used for storage, e.g. "+49-30-45-08-49-40" instead of "+49 30 45 08 49 40". The reason for this is that though the [[wp:en:International Telecommunication Union|International Telecommunication Union (ITU)]] recommends the use of space characters as visual separators in printed telephone numbers {{RFC|3966}} by the [[wp:en:Internet Engineering Task Force|Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)]] defines that URIs for telephone numbers MUST NOT use spaces in visual separators to avoid excessive escaping.[[CiteRef::ietf:rfc:3966:511]] 

Global numbers must always start with "<code>+</code>" or "<code>00</code>". Optionally, it is allowed to write the {{RFC|3966}} [[CiteRef::ietf:rfc:3966]] URI prefix "tel:" in front of any telephone number.

The datatype does not support local numbers (without global country code). Moreover, it is not allowed to use [[wp:en:vanity number|vanity number]]s since the mapping from letters to numbers is not standardized internationally.

== Examples ==
Below are some examples of correct phone numbers:

; Preferred annotations
<pre>
[[Has telephone number::+353-91-555560]]
[[Has telephone number::00353-91-555560]]
</pre>

; Allowed annotations
<pre>
[[Has telephone number::+353.91.555559]]
[[Has telephone number::+353 91 555561]]
[[Has telephone number::+ 353 91 555562]]
[[Has telephone number::+353 91 5 55563]]
[[Has telephone number::+353/91/555564]]
[[Has telephone number::00353 91 555565]]
[[Has telephone number::00353 / 91555566]]
</pre>

It is allowed to write <code>tel:</code>in front of any of these examples, as in <code><nowiki>[[Has telephone number::tel:+353-91-555560]]</nowiki></code>. Moreover, some special fields are also allowed (see {{RFC|3966}} [[CiteRef::ietf:rfc:3966]] for explanation):
<pre>
[[Has telephone number::tel:+353-91-555560;postd=pp22]]
[[Has telephone number::tel:+1234567890;phone-context=+1234;vnd.company.option=foo]]
</pre>

; Invalid annotations
The following examples are '''not allowed''' and will lead to errors:
<pre>
[[Has telephone number::+353 (0) 91 555555]]
[[Has telephone number::(00353 91) 55 55 55]]
[[Has telephone number::+353-91-55555-5/-6]]
[[Has telephone number::091 555 555]]
[[Has telephone number::+353-91-CALLME]]
[[Has telephone number::+353-91-55555-5 after 6pm]]
[[Has telephone number::+-353-91-55555-5]]
[[Has telephone number::+1]]
</pre>
{{API example}}

== Semantic search ==
Using telephone number properties for searching pages can be done in a similar fashion as for all other properties; see [[Help:Semantic search]]. As with any property, you can use the "<code>+</code>" wildcard to select all pages with some value for a telephone number property, for example <code><nowiki>{{#ask: [[Has telephone number::+]] }}</nowiki></code>.

<div style="display: none">
{{DEFAULTSORTKEY:Telephone number}}
{{#scite:ietf:rfc:3966
 |type=rfc
 |number=3966
 |label=The tel URI for Telephone Numbers
}}
{{#scite:ietf:rfc:3966:511
 |type=rfc
 |number=3966
 |section=section-5.1.1
 |label=The tel URI for Telephone Numbers - Separators in Phone Numbers
}}
{{doc.info
 |master page={{FULLPAGENAME}}
 |status=effective
 |progress=100
 |priority=2
 |minversion=1.5.0
}}
</div>