Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Converting Phone Numbers.

Converting Phone Numbers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 2, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


3

We have all seen the ads on TV: "Call 1-800-GET THIS for your set of super-sharp knives." You may be faced with the need to convert phone numbers from the text version (as shown on the ads) to the numbers represented by that text. The following macro, DoPhone, will perform the conversion magic for you:

Sub DoPhone()
    Dim rngSrc As Range
    Dim lMax As Long, lCtr As Long
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim Phone As String, Digit As String

    Set rngSrc = ActiveSheet.Range(ActiveWindow.Selection.Address)
    lMax = rngSrc.Cells.Count

    For lCtr = 1 To lMax
        If Not rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).HasFormula Then
            Phone = rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).Value
            For J = 1 To Len(Phone)
                Digit = Ucase(Mid(Phone, J, 1))
                Select Case Digit
                    Case "A" To "P"
                        Digit = Chr((Asc(Digit) + 1) \ 3 + 28)
                    Case "Q"
                        Digit = "7"     'May want to change
                    Case "R" To "Y"
                        Digit = Chr(Asc(Digit) \ 3 + 28)
                    Case "Z"
                        Digit = "9"     'May want to change
                End Select
                Mid(Phone, J, 1) = Digit
            Next J
            rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).Value = Phone
        End If
    Next lCtr
End Sub

The DoPhone procedure tries to convert the information in any cell that does not contain a formula. All you need to do is select the cell (or cells) you want to convert, and then run the procedure. The result is that any text in the cells are converted to their digit equivalents on a phone. Thus, 598-Tips becomes 598-8477.

You should note one small peculiarity of DoPhone, and you may want to change it. Some phones recognize the letters Q and Z as the digits 7 and 9, respectively. Others simply leave these digits out, or they are converted to 0. DoPhone, as written here, converts these letters to 7 and 9. You can change the appropriate places in the Select Case structure, as desired, so they are changed to numbers according to your needs. (The appropriate places are commented in the listing.)

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2269) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Converting Phone Numbers.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 0 + 1?

2018-01-28 03:24:17

Rick Rothstein

Note the lone "False" on the fourth line up from the bottom of the code I just posted... that actually belongs at the end of the line above it (it got wrapped to the next line because the code line was too long for the field it was displayed in).


2018-01-28 03:19:52

Rick Rothstein

Here is another way to do it which should be a little bit faster, especially for a large selected range (which may also be non-contiguous)...

Sub DoPhone()
Dim X As Long
Const Letters As String = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
Const Numbers As String = "22233344455566677778889999"
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
For X = 1 To 26
Selection.Replace Mid(Letters, X, 1), Mid(Numbers, X, 1), xlPart, , False, , False, False
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub


2018-01-27 10:31:40

Rick Rothstein

Here is another way to write this article's DoPhone macro which will also handle a non-contiguous selection (which this article's macro won't) in case that feature should be needed.

Sub DoPhone()
Dim X As Long, Txt As String, Cell As Range
Const Nums As String = "22233344455566677778889999"
For Each Cell In Selection
If Not Cell.HasFormula Then
Txt = UCase(Cell.Text)
For X = 1 To Len(Txt)
If Mid(Txt, X, 1) Like "[A-Z]" Then
Mid(Txt, X) = Mid(Nums, Asc(Mid(Txt, X, 1)) - 64, 1)
End If
Next
Cell.Value = Txt
End If
Next
End Sub


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