mySQL regex in the where clause

Question

SELECT telephone_number
FROM table
WHERE telephone_number REGEXP \'^1[() -]*999[() -]*999[() -]*9999$\';

how do i make so its valid for any number

Answer 1

It isn't very wise to store phone numbers in a database with spaces, dashes, parentheses, etc. The most efficient way is to truncate all that garbage to a simple 10 digit number. That way you can actually store the number in an INTEGER based column instead of a VARCHAR.