Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most.

Teams

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

i need to enter mobile number in a text field.

i need to display mobile number like this format 123-456-7890.

for eg: 1234567890 is my mobile number,while am entering this mobile number in text field,

for first 3 digits i need to place -,after 3 digits again i need to place -.

if i enter 123 then automatically place - in text field,after 456 place ,no need of placing for further 4 digits.

similar to displaying text in currency format.

but while getting text from that text field i need to get mobile number no need of - like 1234567890,not 123-456-7890.

i think my question is quite clear now,let me add comment if is not.

Thank u in advance.

Just to clarify: As a user enters a phone number into a UITextField, you would like it to automatically insert dashes in the proper places.

The answer is in using the UITextFieldDelegate protocol.

1) Set your controller object as a delegate for the UITextField.

2) You'll find the following method in the protocol:

- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string
This method is called every time a character change occurs in the text field.
3) How robust you want your implementation to be is up to you. You could simply do a count of the current characters and insert dashes after 3 and 6 characters. It would be wise to also reject any non-numeric characters.
Here is a sample implementation. We basically take over the field editing manually - Inserting dashes after the appropriate string lengths and making sure the user can only enter numbers:
- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string {
    NSCharacterSet *numSet = [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"0123456789-"];
    NSString *newString = [textField.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];
    int charCount = [newString length];
    if ([newString rangeOfCharacterFromSet:[numSet invertedSet]].location != NSNotFound
        || [string rangeOfString:@"-"].location != NSNotFound
        || charCount > 12) {
        return NO;
    if (charCount == 3 || charCount == 7) {
        newString = [newString stringByAppendingString:@"-"];
    textField.text = newString;
    return NO;
                Thank u  Matthew Mc Googan,If i use this when i there is case the user enter mistake,if he want's remove then - symbol is not removed.i mean 123-456-7890 in this number, upto 123-456- is removed - is not removed,I am very thankful if i got solution for this also
– Mahesh Babu
                Mar 2, 2011 at 7:34
                Yeah, @MaheshBabu is right. You need to add the following to the top of function: if ([string isEqualToString:@""]) { return YES; }
– ivanzoid
                Jun 14, 2011 at 13:25
                Is there a way to deal with backspace? When you try to delete a dash it adds another one because it's at that character count for appending a dash.
– Alex L
                Sep 19, 2011 at 16:58
Updated Matthew McGoogan's code : This works fine with back space also.. 
- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string { if (textField.tag == 8) {           
        NSCharacterSet *numSet = [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"0123456789-"];
        NSString *newString = [textField.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];
        int charCount = [newString length];
        if (charCount == 3 || charCount == 7) {
            if ([string isEqualToString:@""]){
                return YES;
            }else{
                newString = [newString stringByAppendingString:@"-"];
        if (charCount == 4 || charCount == 8) {
            if (![string isEqualToString:@"-"]){
                newString = [newString substringToIndex:[newString length]-1];
                newString = [newString stringByAppendingString:@"-"];
        if ([newString rangeOfCharacterFromSet:[numSet invertedSet]].location != NSNotFound
            || [string rangeOfString:@"-"].location != NSNotFound
            || charCount > 12) {
            return NO;
        textField.text = newString;
    return NO;
return YES;}
This will format as so: (444) 444-4444
It also handles backspaces, unlike the answer above. 
- (BOOL)textField:(UITextField *)textField shouldChangeCharactersInRange:(NSRange)range replacementString:(NSString *)string {
    if(textField == _txtPhone1 || textField == _txtPhone2 || textField == _txtPhone3 || textField == _txtPhone4)
        NSCharacterSet *numSet = [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"0123456789-() "];
        NSString *newString = [textField.text stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:string];
        int charCount = [newString length];
        if ([newString rangeOfCharacterFromSet:[numSet invertedSet]].location != NSNotFound
            || [string rangeOfString:@")"].location != NSNotFound
            || [string rangeOfString:@"("].location != NSNotFound
            || [string rangeOfString:@"-"].location != NSNotFound
            || charCount > 14) {
            return NO;
        if (![string isEqualToString:@""])
            if (charCount == 1)
                newString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"(%@", newString];
            else if(charCount == 4)
                newString = [newString stringByAppendingString:@") "];
            else if(charCount == 5)
                newString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@) %@", [newString substringToIndex:4], [newString substringFromIndex:4]];
            else if(charCount == 6)
                newString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", [newString substringToIndex:5], [newString substringFromIndex:5]];
            else if (charCount == 9)
                newString = [newString stringByAppendingString:@"-"];
            else if(charCount == 10)
                newString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@-%@", [newString substringToIndex:9], [newString substringFromIndex:9]];
        textField.text = newString;
        return NO;
        
Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow!
Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.