---
name: "Number::Phone::Formatters"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libnumber-phone-perl"
version: "3.6006-1"
release: "Debian 11 (Bullseye)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Number::Phone::Formatters"
---

# Number::Phone::Formatters(3pm)

how to write custom formatters

## NAME

Number::Phone::Formatters - how to write custom formatters

## DESCRIPTION

How to write custom formatters for phone numbers.

## NAMING

Formatters are modules that live in the `"Number::Phone::Formatter::*"` namespace. Users only need to type the last bit of the name, without the leading `"Number::Phone::Formatter::"`, when calling the `"format_using"` method of Number::Phone.

The 'E123' formatter name is reserved and implemented by Number::Phone subclasses in their `"format()"` methods.

The 'FishAndChips' formatter name is reserved because I needed something guaranteed to not exist so I could test that it failed correctly.

## METHODS

There is one compulsory method, `"format"` that you must write. It will be called as a class method, with a number in E.123 international format as its first argument, looking something like '+CC NNN NNN NNN', and a Number::Phone object as its second argument. The gory details of what E.123 looks like are at \<http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.123/en\> but in summary, you'll get a string consisting of:

- a plus sign

  - a 1, 2 or 3 digit country code

  - whitespace

  - a mixture of digits and whitespace

  You should return a string.

## EXAMPLE

See Number::Phone::Formatter::Raw for an example that uses the string argument, and Number::Phone::Formatter::NationallyPreferredIntl for one that uses the object.

## COPYRIGHT and LICENCE

Copyright 2016 David Cantrell \<*david@cantrell.org.uk*\>

This documentation is free-as-in-speech software.  It may be used, distributed, and modified under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License, whose text you may read at \<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/\>.