Hi! Maybe you’ll know the answer to this Ops Hub question @karstenkoehler…
I want to format contact phone numbers from 8004567890 or 18004567890 to +1 (800) 456-7890.
I created a workflow and added the Format Data step. According to this developer doc, I should write the expression like this:
- {{ “[phone]”|regex_replace(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})', ‘$1-$2-$3’) }}
That, however, returns an error. So I rewrote the expression according to how the workflow wanted it, and it indicated no issues:
- regex_replace([phone],‘^\D*1?’, ‘+1’), ‘(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})’, ‘$1-$2-$3’)
It didn’t work though 
Running the workflow returns the error
So how are we to write this expression? Why is it required in a different format compared to HubDB?
Hi @EmmaAtKiwi 
, I hope that you are keeping well!
Thank you for asking the Community, great question!
I understand that you are using a custom coded workflow action to format phone numbers but you get an error. If that’s not correct, please let me know.
- When you click on “show details” regarding the error message, what does it say, please?
The more info, screenshots (without sensitive/confidential information), and details you can provide, the better the Community can assist.
I’d like to invite a couple of subject matter experts to this conversation: Hi @louischausse, @ChrisoKlepke and @Teun do you have suggestions to help @EmmaAtKiwi, please?
Also, if anybody else has anything to add and/or share, please feel free to join in the conversation 
Thank you very much for sharing your expertise 
and have a wonderful day!
Best,
Bérangère
Hey there!
I get it, I think the expression you’re using is almost there but needs a little tweak. Try this instead
{{ “[phone]”|regex_replace(‘^\D*1?(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})’, ‘+1 ($1) $2-$3’) }}
This will take care of formatting numbers like 8004567890 or 18004567890 into +1 (800) 456-7890.
The changes I made is adjusting the placement of the capturing groups and fixing the pattern for the optional ‘1’. Give it a shot, and hopefully, it solves the problem for you.
I would love know how it goes on triotech systems! If you still run into issues, we can dive deeper into troubleshooting. Good luck!
Thanks @Expertopinionsa! I’m still getting an error though, since HubSpot CRM using this function differently than HubSpot CMS, it seems.
It doesn’t like the {{… but when I remove the brackets, it doesn’t like |… even though that’s how they syntax is meant to be written!
Give it a shot and let me know if it works this time. Fingers crossed! 
If not, we can keep tweaking until we nail it.
"Phone number " regex_replace('^\D*1?(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})', '+1 ($1) $2-$3')
Hi @EmmaAtKiwi, I hope that you are well!
I have limited experience with coding so I’d like to ask some Top Experts to take a look at this: Hi @karstenkoehler, @KimRogers, @SR0, @Ntbrown, @Gonzalo and @jpsanchez do you have suggestions to help @EmmaAtKiwi on this, please?
Thank you very much and have a nice day!
Best,
Bérangère
Thanks @BérangèreL! Unfortunately, clicking on “show details” does not, in fact, give me any details… The error message only reiterates that I wrote the syntax wrong, but I don’t know where!
Hu @EmmaAtKiwi - I may be confused, but it looks to me that you are trying to use the regex function in a workflow format step. But the reference you are making to the usage docs is for a HubL function.
I know very well that the differences/inconsistencies between HubSpot tools and different conexts can be maddening sometimes.
The (hard to search for) list of avalable formulas for the workflow context is at: Use Custom Formula Functions when formatting data in workflows - I think you can do what you want with “replace” - but I haven’t tried specifically.
Steve
Hi @SteveHTM! You are correct, I AM trying to format phone numbers in a workflow, but can not figure out the correct syntax structure.
The developer docs I referenced indicated I could write the syntax like this --
{{ “[phone]”|regex_replace(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})', ‘$1-$2-$3’) }} -- but the workflow format step returned an error.
So how the heck am I supposed to write it, if the HubSpot workflow doesn’t seem to speak the same language as the HubSpot developer docs?!?!? 
Hi @EmmaAtKiwi,
I understand how frustrating this can be.
I’d like to ask our Top Experts: Hi @MBERARD, @HFisher7 and @louischausse do you have any tips to help @EmmaAtKiwi, please?
@EmmaAtKiwi, if you don’t get an answer here, since this is quite technical, I recommend that you post in the Developers Forum here.
Thank you and have a great day!
Best,
Bérangère
@EmmaAtKiwi - I think my point is that your function reference is to a HubL document which really is a different language to the custom formula seup in workflow steps. So you can’t mix and match thos functions. HubL functions can only be used in page markup/HTML scripting etc.
Hope that this makes sense. Apologies if I am getting teh context incorrect.
Steve
Thank you @SteveHTM, you’re absolutely getting it correct, it’s ME that’s clearly struggling! So if my syntax deduced from the HubL doc won’t work, do you know what will?
I know this thread is a little older, but I also know how frustrating it can be to not find a solution! This is a bit more advanced, but I’ve found it works really well for what you’re trying to accomplish, @EmmaAtKiwi., and includes some instructions to help give context. You want the cca.js file to use as a custom code action instead of a formula…
Gives two options for formatting US phone numbers. To get the +1, I just modifed line 74 slightly:
return '+1 ' + '(' + match[1] + ') ' + match[2] + '-' + match[3];
Here are two other screenshots that should help:
And…
@AntoineBr, looks like this is yours, so I hope you don’t mind the respost. And THANK YOU for all the time you’re diligence will save me!!
Hi @EmmaAtKiwi,
I was struggling with a similar issue. After many hours of frustration I found what appears to be a bug in the data formatting implementation of regex_replace. I found that although the editor was accepting my input variable as a valid type, somewhere later down the line it was rejecting it. By forcing/coerding the input value into a string using another function I got it to work (I used “cut()” with no value). In my case I’m taking an 8 digit phone number and adding a country code:
regex_replace(cut([phone], ""), "^(\d{8})$", "+47$1")
In your case you’d want something like:
regex_replace(cut([phone], ""), "(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})", "+1 $1-$2-$3")
Here’s the docs for the supported regex syntax: Syntax · google/re2 Wiki · GitHub
Although the workflow accepts regex_replace as a valid function it’s not listed in the official documentation for custom formula functions:
Hope that helps!
