formatting phone numbers ms access

Question

Sorry, another question about MsAccess.

I have data set:

Phone Number
444-514-9864
555-722-2273
333-553- 4535
000-000- 0000
550-322-6888
444-896-5371
322-533-1448
222.449.2931
222.314.5208
222.745.6001

I need it to look like (222) 896-5371. How do I do it in Ms Access or MsExcel?

Answer 1

You can use the Instr, mid, Left and Right functions to make this work. I have made 1 example, with msdn you should be able to figure out the rest

Dim OldPhoneNumber As String
Dim NewPhoneNumber As String
Dim PreFix As String
Dim PreFix2 As String

' You can replace this line in Access, just make sure the full phone number is stored in "OldPhoneNumber"
OldPhoneNumber = Worksheets(<worksheet name>).Range(<cell name>).Value 


PreFix = Left(OldPhoneNumber, InStr(1, OldPhoneNumber, "-", 1))
PreFix2 = Left(OldPhoneNumber, InStr(1, OldPhoneNumber, "-", 1) - 1)

NewPhoneNumber = Replace(OldPhoneNumber, PreFix, "(" & PreFix2 & ") ")

Debug.Print (NewPhoneNumber)

Seeing as not all your phone numbers are formatted the same way, you would have to make a different rule for every different formatted phone number (you need 1 that checks for "-" and one that checks for "." You also might want to filter out the spaces

Answer 2

In Access you set the "Input mask" to : "("000") "000"-"0000;1;_

All the references http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/access-help/input-mask-syntax-and-examples-HP005187550.aspx

Answer 3

Input mask will only work for new data. You will need to create a macro or function to update your existing data to be consistent with your desired format