# How to remove parentheses, dashes and spaces from phone numbers in Excel

Nest one SUBSTITUTE for each character to delete. In Google Sheets, =REGEXREPLACE(A2,"\D","") removes everything that isn't a digit.

**Excel:** `=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"(",""),")",""),"-","")," ",""),".","")` (Microsoft 365 only)

**Google Sheets:** `=REGEXREPLACE(A2,"\D","")`

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B |
| --- | --- |
| Phone (as typed) | Digits only |
| (612) 555-0142 |  |
| 651-555-0187 |  |
| 763 555 0021 |  |
| (952)555-0199 |  |
| 218.555.0110 |  |

Formula in B2, filled to B6: `=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"(",""),")",""),"-","")," ",""),".","")`

Result: 6125550142; 6515550187; 7635550021; 9525550199; 2185550110

## How it works

Each SUBSTITUTE deletes one kind of character, and its result feeds the next, so after five of them only digits are left. The result is text, which keeps leading zeros and is what phone systems and lookups usually expect.

Google Sheets can do it in one step: `\D` means any character that isn't a digit.

## Other ways

- `=CONCAT(IFERROR(MID(A2,SEQUENCE(LEN(A2)),1)*1,""))`: Excel 365: keeps only the characters that are digits, whatever the punctuation is.

## Common mistakes

- A leading +1 country code leaves 11 digits. Keep the last 10 with `RIGHT(…,10)` for US numbers.
- Extensions like "x204" stay in with SUBSTITUTE, and their digits are kept by the other versions. Split them off first.

## Questions

**How do I format the digits again as (612) 555-0142?**

Use `="("&LEFT(B2,3)&") "&MID(B2,4,3)&"-"&RIGHT(B2,4)`.

**How do I get a number instead of text?**

Wrap it in VALUE. Numbers with a leading 0 lose it.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/remove-parentheses-dashes-and-spaces-from-phone-numbers