<input type="tel"> #
::: section-content
<input>
elements of type tel
are used to let the user
enter and edit a telephone number. Unlike
<input type="email">
and
<input type="url">
, the
input value is not automatically validated to a particular format before
the form can be submitted, because formats for telephone numbers vary so
much around the world.
:::
Try it #
::: section-content ::: iframe ::: {.output-header .border-rounded-top}
HTML Demo: <input type="tel"> #
Reset :::
::: {#warning-no-script .warning-container} ::: warning The interactive example cannot be shown because JavaScript is disabled. ::: :::
::: {#warning-mathml-not-supported .warning-container .hidden} ::: warning The interactive example cannot be shown because MathML is not supported by your browser. ::: :::
::: {#editor-container .editor-container .tabbed-standard .hidden .border-rounded-bottom editor-type=“tabbed”} ::: {#tab-container .section .tabs} ::: {#tablist .tab-list role=“tablist”} HTML
CSS
JavaScript :::
::: {#html-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“html” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#html-editor}
<input type="tel" id="phone" name="phone" pattern="[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{4}" required />
<small>Format: 123-456-7890</small>
::: :::
::: {#css-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“css” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#css-editor} label { display: block; font: 1rem ‘Fira Sans’, sans-serif; }
input,
label {
margin: 0.4rem 0;
}
::: :::
::: {#js-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“js” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#js-editor} ::: ::: :::
::: {#output .output-container}
Output #
::: :::
::: {.section .console-container .hidden aria-hidden=“true”}
Console Output #
![] clear console
::: {#console .console} ::: :::
::: {#html-output .output .editor-tabbed} %html-content% ::: :::
Despite the fact that inputs of type tel
are functionally identical to
standard text
inputs, they do serve useful purposes; the most quickly
apparent of these is that mobile browsers — especially on mobile
phones — may opt to present a custom keypad optimized for entering
phone numbers. Using a specific input type for telephone numbers also
makes adding custom validation and handling of phone numbers more
convenient.
::: {#sect1 .notecard .note}
Note: Browsers that don't support type tel
fall back to being a
standard
text input.
:::
:::
Value #
::: section-content
The
<input>
element's
value
attribute
contains a string that either represents a telephone number or is an
empty string (""
).
:::
Additional attributes #
::: section-content
In addition to the attributes that operate on all
<input>
elements regardless of their type, telephone number inputs support the
following attributes.
:::
list #
::: section-content
The values of the list attribute is the
id
of a
<datalist>
element located in the same document. The
<datalist>
provides a list of predefined values to
suggest to the user for this input. Any values in the list that are not
compatible with the
type
are not included in the
suggested options. The values provided are suggestions, not
requirements: users can select from this predefined list or provide a
different value.
:::
maxlength #
::: section-content
The maximum string length (measured in UTF-16 code units) that the user
can enter into the telephone number field. This must be an integer value
of 0 or higher. If no maxlength
is specified, or an invalid value is
specified, the telephone number field has no maximum length. This value
must also be greater than or equal to the value of minlength
.
The input will fail
constraint validation
if the length of the text entered into the field is greater than
maxlength
UTF-16 code units long.
:::
minlength #
::: section-content
The minimum string length (measured in UTF-16 code units) that the user
can enter into the telephone number field. This must be a non-negative
integer value smaller than or equal to the value specified by
maxlength
. If no minlength
is specified, or an invalid value is
specified, the telephone number input has no minimum length.
The telephone number field will fail
constraint
validation if the length of the text
entered into the field is fewer than minlength
UTF-16 code units long.
:::
pattern #
::: section-content
The pattern
attribute, when specified, is a regular expression that
the input's
value
must match for the value to pass
constraint validation. It must be a valid
JavaScript regular expression, as used by the
RegExp
type, and as documented in our
guide on regular
expressions;
the 'u'
flag is specified when compiling the regular expression so
that the pattern is treated as a sequence of Unicode code points,
instead of as
ASCII. No
forward slashes should be specified around the pattern text.
If the specified pattern is not specified or is invalid, no regular expression is applied and this attribute is ignored completely.
::: {#sect2 .notecard .note}
Note: Use the
title
attribute to specify text
that most browsers will display as a tooltip to explain what the
requirements are to match the pattern. You should also include other
explanatory text nearby.
:::
See Pattern validation below for details and an example. :::
placeholder #
::: section-content
The placeholder
attribute is a string that provides a brief hint to
the user as to what kind of information is expected in the field. It
should be a word or short phrase that demonstrates the expected type of
data, rather than an explanatory message. The text must not include
carriage returns or line feeds.
If the control's content has one directionality ( LTR or RTL) but needs to present the placeholder in the opposite directionality, you can use Unicode bidirectional algorithm formatting characters to override directionality within the placeholder; see How to use Unicode controls for bidi text{target="_blank"} for more information.
::: {#sect3 .notecard .note}
Note: Avoid using the placeholder
attribute if you can. It is not
as semantically useful as other ways to explain your form, and can cause
unexpected technical issues with your content. See
<input>
labels for more information.
:::
:::
readonly #
::: section-content
A Boolean attribute which, if present, means this field cannot be edited
by the user. Its value
can, however, still be changed by JavaScript
code directly setting the
HTMLInputElement
value
property.
::: {#sect4 .notecard .note}
Note: Because a read-only field cannot have a value, required
does
not have any effect on inputs with the readonly
attribute also
specified.
:::
:::
size #
::: section-content
The size
attribute is a numeric value indicating how many characters
wide the input field should be. The value must be a number greater than
zero, and the default value is 20. Since character widths vary, this may
or may not be exact and should not be relied upon to be so; the
resulting input may be narrower or wider than the specified number of
characters, depending on the characters and the font
(
font
settings in use).
This does not set a limit on how many characters the user can enter
into the field. It only specifies approximately how many can be seen at
a time. To set an upper limit on the length of the input data, use the
maxlength
attribute.
:::
Non-standard attributes #
::: section-content The following non-standard attributes are available to telephone number input fields. As a general rule, you should avoid using them unless it can't be helped. :::
autocorrect #
::: section-content
A Safari extension, the autocorrect
attribute is a string which
indicates whether to activate automatic correction while the user is
editing this field. Permitted values are:
on
Enable automatic correction of typos, as well as processing of text substitutions if any are configured.
off
Disable automatic correction and text substitutions. :::
mozactionhint [Deprecated]{.visually-hidden} #
::: section-content A Mozilla extension, which provides a hint as to what sort of action will be taken if the user presses the [Enter]{.kbd} or [Return]{.kbd} key while editing the field.
Deprecated: Use
enterkeyhint
instead.
:::
Using tel inputs #
::: section-content Telephone numbers are a very commonly collected type of data on the web. When creating any kind of registration or e-commerce site, for example, you will likely need to ask the user for a telephone number, whether for business purposes or for emergency contact purposes. Given how commonly-entered phone numbers are, it's unfortunate that a "one size fits all" solution for validating phone numbers is not practical.
Fortunately, you can consider the requirements of your own site and implement an appropriate level of validation yourself. See Validation, below, for details. :::
Custom keyboards #
::: section-content
One of the main advantages of <input type="tel">
is that it causes
mobile browsers to display a special keyboard for entering phone
numbers. For example, here's what the keypads look like on a couple of
devices.
Firefox for Android | WebKit iOS (Safari/Chrome/Firefox) |
---|---|
A simple tel input #
::: section-content In its most basic form, a tel input can be implemented like this:
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<label for="telNo">Phone number:</label>
<input id="telNo" name="telNo" type="tel" />
:::
::: {#sect5 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
There is nothing magical going on here. When submitted to the server,
the above input's data would be represented as, for example,
telNo=+12125553151
.
:::
Placeholders #
::: section-content
Sometimes it's helpful to offer an in-context hint as to what form the
input data should take. This can be especially important if the page
design doesn't offer descriptive labels for each
<input>
.
This is where placeholders come in. A placeholder is a value that
demonstrates the form the value
should take by presenting an example
of a valid value, which is displayed inside the edit box when the
element's value
is ""
. Once data is entered into the box, the
placeholder disappears; if the box is emptied, the placeholder
reappears.
Here, we have an tel
input with the placeholder 123-4567-8901
. Note
how the placeholder disappears and reappears as you manipulate the
contents of the edit field.
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<input id="telNo" name="telNo" type="tel" placeholder="123-4567-8901" />
:::
::: {#sect6 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: ::: :::
Controlling the input size #
::: section-content You can control not only the physical length of the input box, but also the minimum and maximum lengths allowed for the input text itself.
Physical input element size #
The physical size of the input box can be controlled using the
size
attribute. With it, you can specify the number
of characters the input box can display at a time. In this example, for
instance, the tel
edit box is 20 characters wide:
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<input id="telNo" name="telNo" type="tel" size="20" />
:::
::: {#sect7 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
Element value length #
The size
is separate from the length limitation on the entered
telephone number. You can specify a minimum length, in characters, for
the entered telephone number using the
minlength
attribute; similarly, use
maxlength
to set the
maximum length of the entered telephone number.
The example below creates a 20-character wide telephone number entry box, requiring that the contents be no shorter than 9 characters and no longer than 14 characters.
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<input
id="telNo"
name="telNo"
type="tel"
size="20"
minlength="9"
maxlength="14" />
:::
::: {#sect8 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
::: {#sect9 .notecard .note} Note: The above attributes do affect Validation — the above example's inputs will count as invalid if the length of the value is less than 9 characters, or more than 14. Most browser won't even let you enter a value over the max length. ::: :::
Providing default options #
::: section-content
Providing a single default using the value attribute #
As always, you can provide a default value for an tel
input box by
setting its
value
attribute:
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<input id="telNo" name="telNo" type="tel" value="333-4444-4444" />
:::
::: {#sect10 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
Offering suggested values #
Taking it a step further, you can provide a list of default phone number
values from which the user can select. To do this, use the
list
attribute. This doesn't limit the user to those
options, but does allow them to select commonly-used telephone numbers
more quickly. This also offers hints to
autocomplete
. The list
attribute specifies
the ID of a
<datalist>
element, which in turn contains
one
<option>
element per suggested value; each
option
's value
is the corresponding suggested value for the
telephone number entry box.
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<label for="telNo">Phone number: </label>
<input id="telNo" name="telNo" type="tel" list="defaultTels" />
<datalist id="defaultTels">
<option value="111-1111-1111"></option>
<option value="122-2222-2222"></option>
<option value="333-3333-3333"></option>
<option value="344-4444-4444"></option>
</datalist>
:::
::: {#sect11 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
With the
<datalist>
element and its
<option>
s in place, the browser will offer the specified
values as potential values for the phone number; this is typically
presented as a popup or drop-down menu containing the suggestions. While
the specific user experience may vary from one browser to another,
typically clicking in the edit box presents a drop-down of the suggested
phone numbers. Then, as the user types, the list is adjusted to show
only filtered matching values. Each typed character narrows down the
list until the user makes a selection or types a custom value.
Here's a screenshot of what that might look like:
![An input box has focus with a blue focus ring. The input has a drop-down menu showing four phone numbers the user can select.] height=“150” loading=“lazy”} :::
Validation #
::: section-content As we've touched on before, it's quite difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all client-side validation solution for phone numbers. So what can we do? Let's consider some options.
::: {#sect12 .notecard .warning} Warning: HTML form validation is not a substitute for server-side scripts that ensure the entered data is in the proper format before it is allowed into the database. It's far too easy for someone to make adjustments to the HTML that allow them to bypass the validation, or to remove it entirely. It's also possible for someone to bypass your HTML entirely and submit the data directly to your server. If your server-side code fails to validate the data it receives, disaster could strike when improperly-formatted data (or data which is too large, is of the wrong type, and so forth) is entered into your database. ::: :::
Making telephone numbers required #
::: section-content
You can make it so that an empty input is invalid and won't be
submitted to the server using the
required
attribute. For example, let's use this HTML:
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<form>
<label for="telNo">Enter a telephone number (required): </label>
<input id="telNo" name="telNo" type="tel" required />
<span class="validity"></span>
<button>Submit</button>
</form>
:::
And let's include the following CSS to highlight valid entries with a checkmark and invalid entries with a cross:
::: code-example [css]{.language-name}
div {
margin-bottom: 10px;
position: relative;
}
input[type="number"] {
width: 100px;
}
input + span {
padding-right: 30px;
}
input:invalid + span::after {
position: absolute;
content: "✖";
padding-left: 5px;
color: #8b0000;
}
input:valid + span::after {
position: absolute;
content: "✓";
padding-left: 5px;
color: #009000;
}
:::
The output looks like this:
::: {#sect13 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: ::: :::
Pattern validation #
::: section-content
If you want to further restrict entered numbers so they also have to
conform to a specific pattern, you can use the
pattern
attribute, which takes as its value a
regular
expression
that entered values have to match.
In this example we'll use the same CSS as before, but our HTML is changed to look like this:
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<form>
<label for="telNo">
Enter a telephone number (in the form xxx-xxx-xxxx):
</label>
<input
id="telNo"
name="telNo"
type="tel"
required
pattern="[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{4}" />
<span class="validity"></span>
<button>Submit</button>
</form>
:::
::: {#sect14 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
Notice how the entered value is reported as invalid unless the pattern xxx-xxx-xxxx is matched; for instance, 41-323-421 won't be accepted. Neither will 800-MDN-ROCKS. However, 865-555-6502 will be accepted. This particular pattern is obviously only useful for certain locales — in a real application you'd probably have to vary the pattern used depending on the locale of the user. :::
Examples #
::: section-content
In this example, we present a simple interface with a
<select>
element that lets the user choose which country
they're in, and a set of <input type="tel">
elements to let them
enter each part of their phone number; there is no reason why you can't
have multiple tel
inputs.
Each input has a
placeholder
attribute to show
a hint to sighted users about what to enter into it, a
pattern
to enforce a specific number of characters
for the desired section, and an
aria-label
attribute to contain a hint to be read out to screen reader users about
what to enter into it.
::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<form>
<label for="country">Choose your country:</label>
<select id="country" name="country">
<option>UK</option>
<option selected>US</option>
<option>Germany</option>
</select>
<p>Enter your telephone number:</p>
<span class="areaDiv">
<input
id="areaNo"
name="areaNo"
type="tel"
required
placeholder="Area code"
pattern="[0-9]{3}"
aria-label="Area code" />
<span class="validity"></span>
</span>
<span class="number1Div">
<input
id="number1"
name="number1"
type="tel"
required
placeholder="First part"
pattern="[0-9]{3}"
aria-label="First part of number" />
<span class="validity"></span>
</span>
<span class="number2Div">
<input
id="number2"
name="number2"
type="tel"
required
placeholder="Second part"
pattern="[0-9]{4}"
aria-label="Second part of number" />
<span class="validity"></span>
</span>
<button>Submit</button>
</form>
:::
The JavaScript is relatively simple — it contains an
onchange
event handler that, when the <select>
value is changed, updates the
<input>
element's pattern
, placeholder
, and aria-label
to suit
the format of telephone numbers in that country/territory.
::: code-example [js]{.language-name}
const selectElem = document.querySelector("select");
const inputElems = document.querySelectorAll("input");
selectElem.onchange = () => {
for (let i = 0; i < inputElems.length; i++) {
inputElems[i].value = "";
}
if (selectElem.value === "US") {
inputElems[2].parentNode.style.display = "inline";
inputElems[0].placeholder = "Area code";
inputElems[0].pattern = "[0-9]{3}";
inputElems[1].placeholder = "First part";
inputElems[1].pattern = "[0-9]{3}";
inputElems[1].setAttribute("aria-label", "First part of number");
inputElems[2].placeholder = "Second part";
inputElems[2].pattern = "[0-9]{4}";
inputElems[2].setAttribute("aria-label", "Second part of number");
} else if (selectElem.value === "UK") {
inputElems[2].parentNode.style.display = "none";
inputElems[0].placeholder = "Area code";
inputElems[0].pattern = "[0-9]{3,6}";
inputElems[1].placeholder = "Local number";
inputElems[1].pattern = "[0-9]{4,8}";
inputElems[1].setAttribute("aria-label", "Local number");
} else if (selectElem.value === "Germany") {
inputElems[2].parentNode.style.display = "inline";
inputElems[0].placeholder = "Area code";
inputElems[0].pattern = "[0-9]{3,5}";
inputElems[1].placeholder = "First part";
inputElems[1].pattern = "[0-9]{2,4}";
inputElems[1].setAttribute("aria-label", "First part of number");
inputElems[2].placeholder = "Second part";
inputElems[2].pattern = "[0-9]{4}";
inputElems[2].setAttribute("aria-label", "Second part of number");
}
};
:::
The example looks like this:
::: {#sect15 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: :::
This is an interesting idea, which goes to show a potential solution to the problem of dealing with international phone numbers. You would have to extend the example of course to provide the correct pattern for potentially every country, which would be a lot of work, and there would still be no foolproof guarantee that the users would enter their numbers correctly.
It makes you wonder if it is worth going to all this trouble on the client-side, when you could just let the user enter their number in whatever format they wanted on the client-side and then validate and sanitize it on the server. But this choice is yours to make. :::
Technical Summary #
::: section-content
Value | A string representing a telephone number, or empty | |
Events | change
and input | |
Supported common attributes | autocomplete , list , maxlength , minlength , pattern , placeholder , readonly , and size | |
IDL attributes | list , selectionStart ,
selectionEnd , selectionDirection , and
value | |
DOM interface | ||
Methods | select() ,
setRangeText() ,
setSelectionRange() | |
Implicit ARIA Role | with no list attribute: textbox | with list attribute: combobox |
Specifications #
::: _table #
Specification #
HTML Standard
[#
telephone-state-(type=tel)]{.small}
:::
Browser compatibility #
::: _table #
Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Opera Safari WebView Chrome Firefox Opera Safari Samsung
Explorer Android Android for Android on IOS Internet
Android
tel
3 12 Yes 10 11 4 ≤37 18 Yes 11 3 1.0
The field The field
type doesn\'t type doesn\'t
demonstrate demonstrate
any special any special
behavior. behavior.
:::
See also #
::: section-content
::: _attribution
© 2005–2023 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5
or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/tel{._attribution-link}
:::