Number::Phone::UK - UK-specific methods for Number::Phone
use Number::Phone;
$daves_phone = Number::Phone->new('+44 1234 567890');
Number::Phone::UK uses a large database, access via
Number::Phone::UK::Data. This database lives in a file, and normally only
the little bits of it that you access will ever get loaded into memory. This
means, however, that creating Number::Phone::UK objects almost always
involves disk access and so is slow compared to data for some other
countries. There are two ways to avoid this slowness.
First, if you don't need all the functionality you can use
Number::Phone::Lib.
Second, if you can accept slow startup - eg when your server
starts - then you can call
"Number::Phone::UK::Data->slurp()" from
your code, which will pull the entire database into memory. This will take a
few minutes, and on a 64-bit machine will consume of the order of 200MB of
memory.
The database uses DBM::Deep. This apparently has some problems if
you connect to it, "fork()", and then try
to access the database from multiple processes. We attempt to work around
this by re-connecting to the database after forking. This is, of course, not
a problem if you "slurp()" the database
before forking.
The following methods from Number::Phone are overridden:
- new
- The constructor, you should never have to call this yourself. To create an
object the canonical incantation is
"Number::Phone->new('+44 ...')".
- is_valid
- The number is valid within the national numbering scheme. It may or may
not yet be allocated, or it may be reserved. Any number which returns true
for any of the following methods will also be valid.
- is_allocated
- The number has been allocated to a telco for use. It may or may not yet be
in use or may be reserved.
- is_drama
- The number is intended for use in fiction. OFCOM has allocated numerous
small ranges for this purpose. These numbers will not be allocated to real
customers. See
<http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/numbering/guidance-tele-no/numbers-for-drama>
for the authoritative source.
- is_geographic
- The number refers to a geographic area.
- is_fixed_line
- The number, when in use, can only refer to a fixed line.
(we can't tell whether a number is a fixed line, but we can
tell that some are *not*).
- is_mobile
- The number, when in use, can only refer to a mobile phone.
- The number, when in use, can only refer to a pager.
- is_tollfree
- Callers will not be charged for calls to this number under normal
circumstances.
- is_specialrate
- The number, when in use, attracts special rates. For instance, national
dialling at local rates, or premium rates for services.
- is_adult
- The number, when in use, goes to a service of an adult nature, such as
porn.
- is_personal
- The number, when in use, goes to an individual person.
- is_corporate
- The number, when in use, goes to a business.
- is_ipphone
- The number, when in use, is terminated using VoIP.
- is_network_service
- The number is some kind of network service such as a human operator,
directory enquiries, emergency services etc
- country_code
- Returns 44.
- regulator
- Returns informational text.
- areacode
- Return the area code - if applicable - for the number. If not applicable,
returns undef.
- areaname
- Return the area name - if applicable - for the number, or undef.
- location
- For geographic numbers, this returns the location of the exchange to which
that number is assigned, if available. Otherwise returns undef.
- subscriber
- Return the subscriber part of the number
- operator
- Return the name of the telco operating this number, in an appropriate
character set and with optional details such as their web site or phone
number.
- format
- Return a sanely formatted version of the number, complete with IDD code,
eg for the UK number (0208) 771-2924 it would return +44 20 8771
2924.
- intra_country_dial_to
- Within the UK numbering plan you can *always* dial 0xxxx xxxxxx for
intra-country calls. In most places the leading 0$areacode is optional but
in some it is required (see
<http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/dial-the-code/>) and over time this
will apply to more areas.
- country
- If the number is_international, return the two-letter ISO country code.
NYI
The results are only as up-to-date as the data included from
OFCOM's official documentation of number range allocations.
No attempt is made to deal with number portability.
Please report bugs at
<https://github.com/DrHyde/perl-modules-Number-Phone/issues>,
including, if possible, a test case.
I welcome feedback from users.
You may use, modify and distribute this software under the same
terms as perl itself.
David Cantrell <david@cantrell.org.uk>
Copyright 2012