How to unify the E.164 format before uploading TG US data? Guide to cleaning country codes, spaces, brackets and duplicate numbers

After obtaining TG US data in batches, confusing number formats is the number one reason for failed number screening. Spaces, parentheses, hyphens, missing country codes +1, and even extension numbers—these are the issues that cost many teams their screening budget. This article starts with the E.164 international standard and teaches you how to clean the number format step by step to ensure that your tg US data can efficiently pass the detection of platforms such as KK-DATA and reduce invalid deductions.

What is the E.164 format? Why does TG US Data have to use it?

E.164 is a global telephone number format standard developed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Simply put, it is: Country code + domestic valid number, and only the first plus sign (+) and digits are allowed, and any separators such as spaces, brackets, hyphens, and underscores are prohibited. For example, the correct E.164 format for a US number is: +14151234567 (+1 country code + 415 area code + 1234567 local code).

When detecting numbers, all mainstream Telegram number screening systems (including KK-DATA) rely on the E.164 format to parse the number’s location and call the corresponding operator interface. If the uploaded TG US data is in a confusing format (such as (415) 123-4567 or 001-415-123-4567), the system may:

• Recognize it as an invalid number and skip it directly or return an empty result after deduction;
• Incorrectly completing the country code (such as adding +86 by mistake), resulting in a completely wrong detection direction;
• An error is reported because it cannot be parsed, which affects the completion rate of the entire task.

Conclusion: Unifying the format is the most basic and cost-effective step before screening. There is no one.

Number structure of TG US data: +1, numbers and common errors

A standard U.S. phone number consists of three parts:

• Country Code: +1 (must be included)
• Area Code: 3 digits (e.g. 212, 415, 310)
• Local number: 7 digits (office number + user number)

So the full E.164 format is: +1 + 10 digits, 13 characters in total. However, the actual raw data obtained from CRM, Excel or crawlers is often contaminated by multiple formats.

Country code and area code specifications for U.S. numbers

Area code must be 3 digits. If the original data already contains the area code (for example, 4151234567), you only need to add +1 in front. If the area code in the original data already contains 1 (such as 14151234567), then + should be added directly in front to become +14151234567. Note: Do not delete the 1 after the country code by mistake. The US country code is +1, not + followed by a space.

Common format pollution: brackets, spaces, hyphens, redundant prefixes

The following are typical mistakes you must deal with when cleaning:

Original format	Problem	Correct format after cleaning
(415) 123-4567	Brackets, spaces, hyphens	+14151234567
415-123-4567	hyphen	+14151234567
+1 415 123 4567	Space	+14151234567
001-415-123-4567	US International Prefix 001 (not +1)	+14151234567
1-415-123-4567	Missing plus sign	+14151234567
+1 (415) 123-4567	Brackets and spaces	+14151234567

These contaminations will cause the screen number platform to be unable to correctly identify and must be completely removed.

Hidden error: Insufficient or redundant number length (such as missing one digit, including extension number)

In addition to format symbols, length errors are also fatal:

• Insufficient length: +1415123456 (one less digit) → Complete or delete.
• Excessive length: +14151234567x123 (including extension number) → The extension number needs to be processed separately or the entire record is directly eliminated, because the number screening platform only verifies the main number.
• Contains letters or Chinese: such as +1 800-FLOWERS → This number cannot be automatically converted and it is recommended to discard it directly.

Recommendation: When cleaning, use regular rules ^\+1\d{10}$ for verification, and check the numbers that do not match separately.

How to clean country codes, spaces and brackets in TG US data? (step by step operation)

The following uses Excel/Google Sheets or text editor (Notepad++/Sublime) as an example to introduce the three-step cleaning method.

Step 1: Remove all spaces, brackets and hyphens

Excel/Google Sheets method:

1. Select the number column.
2. Press Ctrl + H to open Find and Replace.
3. Enter （空格） in “Find content”, leave “Replace with” blank, and click “Replace All”.
4. Repeat the steps and replace (, ), -, and . with empty values ​​respectively.

Text editor method (Notepad++ recommended):

1. Open a CSV or TXT file.
2. Ctrl + H Enter replacement mode.
3. Check “Regular Expressions”.
4. Enter [\s\(\)\-\.] in “Find content” (match all spaces, brackets, hyphens, periods), leave “Replace with” blank, and click “Replace All”.

Note: Do not use the same search box to match multiple characters at the same time. It is recommended to do it step by step or complete it all at once in the regular expression.

Step 2: Complete the country code +1

After removing the symbols, check if each line starts with +1:

• If it begins with 1 (e.g. 14151234567), add + → +14151234567 in front.
• If it starts with +1 and is of correct length (13 digits), no processing is required.
• If it starts with + but not +1 (for example, +861234567), the country code is wrong and the line should be deleted or manually corrected to the country code +1.

Excel formula example (assuming the data is in column A):

=IF(LEFT(A1,2)="+1", A1, IF(LEFT(A1,1)="1", "+"&A1, "+1"&A1))

Then paste the result as a value and check the length.

Step 3: Check and remove non-numeric characters (retain the plus sign)

Although the first two steps have cleaned up most of the symbols, invisible characters (such as line breaks, Tabs) or letters may still remain. It can be verified using the following methods:

• Excel: Use =ISNUMBER(--MID(A1,2,99)) to determine whether all numbers except the plus sign are numbers. The mark that returns FALSE is invalid.
• Text Editor: Use regular expression ^\+1\d{10}$ to match valid lines and highlight or delete unmatched lines.

How to remove duplicate numbers and avoid duplicate detection?

Duplicate tg US data will result in multiple deductions and redundant results, and must be deduplicated.

Manual deduplication (Excel/Sheets)

1. Select all number columns.
2. Click “Data” → “Delete Duplicates”, check the column → OK.
3. You can also sort first, and then use the formula =IF(A2=A1, "重复", "") to mark and delete.

Use KK-DATA’s built-in deduplication warehouse (recommended)

If you have a database of numbers that have been detected historically, or do not want to repeat detection between multiple tasks, you can use KK-DATA’s “data deduplication warehouse” function:

• Upload the detected number list in the “Data Deduplication Warehouse” of the console (supports CSV/TXT).
• When creating a new task later, the system will automatically compare the numbers already in the warehouse and skip them to avoid repeated deductions.

How to upload the cleaned TG US data to the Sieve platform in batches?

Taking KK-DATA as an example (the steps for other platforms are similar), the operation process is as follows:

1. Prepare files: Save the cleaned numbers as UTF-8 CSV or TXT files without BOM encoding, one number per line, without headers or serial numbers.
2. Log in to the console: Visit https://app.kkdata.cc/.
3. Create Task: Click “Create Task” → select the platform “Telegram”.
4. Upload files: Select the cleaned files and support batch upload.
5. Select detection items: Check the detection type you need (such as activated/active/gender, etc.). The system displays an “estimated cost” based on the number of items and numbers selected.
6. Submit task: Click Submit after confirming that the balance is sufficient. Once the task is completed, the results can be exported to CSV/TXT format.

Tips: If the number is large (more than 1 million), it is recommended to submit it in batches. KK-DATA supports up to about 1 million items in a single task.

TG US data cleaning checklist (must read before uploading)

Before submitting the task, please confirm each item:

• All numbers start with “+1”
• No spaces, brackets, hyphens, underlines, periods
• No extension number (such as x123), letters, Chinese
• The total length of the number (including +1) is 13 digits
• Exact duplicate rows removed (each number appears only once)
• Files saved as UTF-8 BOM-less encoded CSV or TXT
• Number of single task numbers ≤ 1 million (KK-DATA upper limit)
• Sufficient balance (see official website billing page or console real-time price for details)

After completing the above checks, your tg US data can efficiently pass the screening test and avoid waste.

FAQ

**Q: Why does the number of TG US data have to be added by +1? What will happen if you don’t add it? ** Answer: The E.164 format requires that the international number must start with the country code (+1 corresponds to the United States). If +1 is not added, KK-DATA will process it as a local number by default. If the platform does not support automatic completion, it may cause detection failure or misjudgment as an invalid number. It is recommended to add +1 uniformly.

**Q: Does E.164 format allow spaces in the middle of numbers? ** Answer: Not allowed. E.164 requires pure numbers (except for the first +), and does not allow any delimiters such as spaces, brackets, hyphens, and periods. All must be removed during the cleaning phase.

**Q: When cleaning TG US data, do I need to keep “1” before the area code? ** Answer: Yes. The complete E.164 format is “+1” followed by 10 digits (area code + local number). For example, +14151234567, where “415” is the area code. Do not delete the “1” after the country code by mistake.

**Q: Does KK-DATA support directly uploading numbers with brackets or hyphens? ** Answer: Not supported. The platform requires that the number must be in E.164 format, and you need to clean it locally before uploading it. The console will not automatically repair the format, and numbers with incorrect formats may be skipped directly or invalid results may be returned after deduction.

**Q: How does the deduplication warehouse work? Can it be deduplicated across tasks? ** Answer: The deduplication warehouse will store the list of numbers you imported. The numbers of any subsequent tasks will be compared with the warehouse before detection, and existing numbers will be automatically eliminated to achieve cross-task deduplication. You can manage it in the “Data Deduplication Warehouse” in Console.

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**Cleaning may seem cumbersome, but it can save a lot of screen cost in one step. ** Now try to upload the organized tg US data to KK-DATA and experience efficient screening.

👉 Log in to the console to start screening numbers Two-way contact customer service: https://t.me/kkdata_robot

For more usage tips, please refer to KK-DATA Document.