Is there a standard for storing normalized phone numbers in a database?

Question

What is a good data structure for storing phone numbers in database fields? I\'m looking for something that is flexible enough to handle international numbers, and also som

Answer 1

Look up E.164. Basically, you store the phone number as a code starting with the country prefix and an optional pbx suffix. Display is then a localization issue. Validation can also be done, but it's also a localization issue (based on the country prefix).

For example, +12125551212+202 would be formatted in the en_US locale as (212) 555-1212 x202. It would have a different format in en_GB or de_DE.

There is quite a bit of info out there about ITU-T E.164, but it's pretty cryptic.