import re phonePattern = re.compile(r'^(\d{3})\D*(\d{3})\D*(\d{4})\D*(\d*)$') print phonePattern.search('00088812341234').groups() print phonePattern.search('000.888.1234 x1234').groups() print phonePattern.search('000-888-1234').groups() print phonePattern.search('(000)8881234 x1234')