Phone number validation is a critical part of your data quality solution because it helps prevent sign-up spam and ensures that all of your customers can receive one-time passwords, delivery updates, and other important communications. However, validating international phone numbers can be challenging due to the different dialing codes and conventions used around the world.

In this article, we will show you how to validate international phone numbers in your apps using the free FormValidation plugin and the open source intl-tel-input library. The plugin uses a Javascript regular expression to match most international phone number formats. It also supports a leading +, which is required for mobile numbers in the US and other countries with the same format.

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For example, a US mobile number would begin with +1, while an international land line number in the UK starts with 0 and includes a leading plus sign (). The plugin will also recognize if a leading + is not present and replace it with +1 in the case of US numbers. However, the plugin does not take into account rules for national number plans that require additional digits or exclude certain digits like zero and one.

For more accurate validation, you can use a more sophisticated approach that involves connecting to the telephone network directly. This reveals information about the carrier and line type, including whether it’s porting or roaming. It’s not as quick and simple as a standard validator, but it provides a more complete picture of the status of a phone number, making it a better choice for real-time validation of mobile numbers.