Pattern

Regex for South African phone (+27)

South African phone in +27 format.

The South African phone (+27) regex is ^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$ — copy it below, or open it in the explainer for a token-by-token breakdown.

The pattern

^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$

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What it matches

+27 11 123 4567
011-123-4567
+27821234567

What it doesn't match

+1 11 123 4567
+27 1 23 4567

Notes & gotchas

SA phones: +27 or 0 + 2 digit area code (11=Joburg, 21=Cape Town, 31=Durban, 8x=mobile) + 7 digits.

Code in your language

Use the explainer's Code tab to generate ready-to-paste snippets in JavaScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go, Ruby, and PHP for this pattern.

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Token-by-token breakdown

Every part of the pattern, left to right:

Token	Meaning
`^`	start of string (or line in multiline mode)
`(`	start of a capturing group
`\+`	literal “+”
`27`	literal text “27”
`\|`	OR — try the alternative
`0`	literal text “0”
`)`	end of group
`[\s\-]?`	optional (zero or one): any of: whitespace, “-”
`\d{2}`	exactly 2 times: digit (0–9)
`[\s\-]?`	optional (zero or one): any of: whitespace, “-”
`\d{3}`	exactly 3 times: digit (0–9)
`[\s\-]?`	optional (zero or one): any of: whitespace, “-”
`\d{4}`	exactly 4 times: digit (0–9)
`$`	end of string (or line in multiline mode)

About this pattern

Country-specific identifier formats vary widely. The pattern below validates structure; many real IDs include checksums that regex can't verify. For high-stakes use, validate against the issuing authority.

Quick usage in different languages

This exact pattern — with the correct escaping and idioms for each language:

JavaScript: /^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$/.test(value)
Python: re.match(r"^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$", value)
Java: Pattern.compile("^(\\+27|0)[\\s\\-]?\\d{2}[\\s\\-]?\\d{3}[\\s\\-]?\\d{4}$").matcher(value).matches()
C# / .NET: Regex.IsMatch(value, @"^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$")
Go: regexp.MustCompile(`^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$`).MatchString(value)
Ruby: /^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$/.match?(value)
PHP: preg_match('~^(\+27|0)[\s\-]?\d{2}[\s\-]?\d{3}[\s\-]?\d{4}$~', $value)

The explainer’s Code tab regenerates these for any pattern you paste, and the downloadable cheat sheet bundles the breakdown, all seven snippets, and the pitfalls below onto one printable page.

Common pitfalls

Anchored to the whole string. This pattern uses ^ and $, so it requires the entire input to match. To find it inside a longer text, drop the anchors and use the global (g) flag.
Escape it correctly per language. In Java and JavaScript strings each backslash must be doubled (\\d); in Python, Go, and C# use raw/verbatim strings so the backslashes survive.
Validate beyond format. Matching the format doesn't guarantee the value is real. Confirm the south african phone (+27) against a source of truth (database, API, or checksum) where it matters.

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