php regex, extract like phone number regex from html documents

Question

I\'m trying to extract a specific information from different html pages. Basically the information is a 10 digits number which may have different forms such :

000         


        

Answer 1

Here's a good starting point:

Note the non-capturing subpatterns (which look like (?:stuff)). That makes formatting easy:

And some example results for you:

520-555-5542 :: MATCH 
520.555.5542 :: MATCH 
5205555542 :: MATCH 
520 555 5542 :: MATCH 
520) 555-5542 :: FAIL 
(520 555-5542 :: FAIL 
(520)555-5542 :: MATCH 
(520) 555-5542 :: MATCH 
(520) 555 5542 :: MATCH 
520-555.5542 :: MATCH 
520 555-0555 :: MATCH 
(520)5555542 :: MATCH 
520.555-4523 :: MATCH 
19991114444 :: FAIL 
19995554444 :: MATCH 
514 555 1231 :: MATCH 
1 555 555 5555 :: MATCH 
1.555.555.5555 :: MATCH 
1-555-555-5555 :: MATCH 
520-555-5542 ext.123 :: MATCH 
520.555.5542 EXT 123 :: MATCH 
5205555542 Ext. 7712 :: MATCH 
520 555 5542 ext 5 :: MATCH 
520) 555-5542 :: FAIL 
(520 555-5542 :: FAIL 
(520)555-5542 ext .4 :: FAIL 
(512) 555-1234 ext. 123 :: MATCH 
1(555)555-5555 :: MATCH

You'll probably get a lot of false positives if you allow spaces and dashes like you're suggesting.