Data Type for Phone number in Access

Hi Dear,

A phone number should always be stored as a string or text and never an integer. Some phone numbers generally use hyphens and possibly parentheses. Also, you might need to indicate the country code before the phone number such as +46 5555-555555. Keep in mind also, that not all phone numbers have the same number of digits for area codes and exchanges in different countries

https://teamtreehouse.com/community/what-data-type-would-you-use-to-store-a-phone-number

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/introduction-to-data-types-and-field-properties-30ad644f-946c-442e-8bd2-be067361987c

http://condor.depaul.edu/gandrus/240IT/accesspages/fields-datatypes.htm

http://condor.depaul.edu/gandrus/240IT/accesspages/fields-datatypes.htm#numeric_settings

There are a few problems with storing a zip code as a numeric value.

Zip Codes have extensions, meaning they can be 12345-6789. You cannot store a dash in a numeric datatype.

There are many zip codes that start with a zero, if you store it as an int you are going to lose the leading zero.

You do not add/subtract, etc zip codes or use numeric functions with them.

I would store a zip code as a varchar(5) or varchar(10).

As a side note, I am not sure why you would select varchar(6), do you have a reason for selecting an unusual length when standard zip codes are 5 or 10 with the extension?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15843688/what-is-the-best-column-type-for-a-united-states-zip-code

2 Replies

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Rajanikant Hawaldar7y ago
Accepted answer
Hi Dear,

A phone number should always be stored as a string or text and never an integer. Some phone numbers generally use hyphens and possibly parentheses. Also, you might need to indicate the country code before the phone number such as +46 5555-555555. Keep in mind also, that not all phone numbers have the same number of digits for area codes and exchanges in different countries

https://teamtreehouse.com/community/what-data-type-would-you-use-to-store-a-phone-number

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/introduction-to-data-types-and-field-properties-30ad644f-946c-442e-8bd2-be067361987c

http://condor.depaul.edu/gandrus/240IT/accesspages/fields-datatypes.htm

http://condor.depaul.edu/gandrus/240IT/accesspages/fields-datatypes.htm#numeric_settings

There are a few problems with storing a zip code as a numeric value.

Zip Codes have extensions, meaning they can be 12345-6789. You cannot store a dash in a numeric datatype.

There are many zip codes that start with a zero, if you store it as an int you are going to lose the leading zero.

You do not add/subtract, etc zip codes or use numeric functions with them.

I would store a zip code as a varchar(5) or varchar(10).

As a side note, I am not sure why you would select varchar(6), do you have a reason for selecting an unusual length when standard zip codes are 5 or 10 with the extension?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15843688/what-is-the-best-column-type-for-a-united-states-zip-code
Ravishankar Velladurai7y ago
Thankyou, Sir