Transform Mobile contact type to omit special characters AND return only the last 10 digits?

Originally replied by Brenda Sutton on Feb 24, 2026, 4:39 PM.

Hi @Barbara Buchanan​,

You currently have:

• HomePhone → takes
• string_right(..., 10)
• but does NOT strip special characters
• CellPhone → strips characters via nested
• replace()
• calls but then applies logic inconsistently and gets very heavy

You're essentially trying to do:

1. Find the phone
2. Remove special characters
3. Return last 10 digits
4. Apply layout if needed

The good news: you can dramatically simplify this using

string_chars() + filter(is_numeric)

instead of all those nested

replace()

calls.

✅ Clean, Combined Solution (Recommended)

Below is the clean IDL version for Mobile that:

• Finds the Mobile contact
• Removes all non-numeric characters
• Returns last 10 digits
• Returns nil if nothing valid

let mobileRaw =

find(srcEmployeeRecords?.ContactDetails?,

cd => cd?.ContactInformationType? =~ "Mobile")

|> map_single(cd => cd?.ContactInformation?) ?? nil;

let digitsOnly =

if is_material(mobileRaw) {

mobileRaw

|> string_chars()

|> filter(ch => is_numeric(ch?))

|> join()

} else {

nil

};

if is_material(digitsOnly) && string_length(digitsOnly) >= 10 {

digitsOnly |> string_right(10)

} else {

nil

}

🔎 Why This Is Better (Product + Technical View)

Instead of:

replace(replace(replace(replace(replace...

We use:

string_chars()

|> filter(is_numeric)

|> join()

This removes:

• +
• spaces
• ()
•  
• country codes
• anything not 0–9

It’s cleaner, safer, and future-proof.

💡 If You Also Want the Layout (##########)

If your vendor requires strict numeric layout validation like you’re doing, wrap the last line like this:

if is_material(digitsOnly) && string_length(digitsOnly) >= 10 {

string_lay_out(

digitsOnly |> string_right(10),

"##########",

"#"

)

} else {

nil

}

🏗 Same Logic for HomePhone

Just change

"Mobile"

to

"HomePhone"

and reuse the same structure.

🎯 What Was Breaking Before

1. Your nested
2. replace()
3. logic was fragile
4. You were applying
5. string_right()
6. before stripping characters
7. There’s a syntax issue in your uploaded mapping here:

string_right((replace(...),10) "##########", "#")

You're missing a comma between the

string_right()

and the layout arguments.

🚀 Strategic Recommendation (Cleaner Architecture)

Instead of repeating the

find()

logic twice (Home + Mobile), you could standardize like this pattern:

let getPhone = (type) =>

find(srcEmployeeRecords?.ContactDetails?,

cd => cd?.ContactInformationType? =~ type)

|> map_single(cd => cd?.ContactInformation?) ?? nil;

Then call:

let mobileRaw = getPhone("Mobile");

let homeRaw = getPhone("HomePhone");

This keeps your mapping maintainable long term — especially important in Bulk Benefits feeds that tend to evolve.

✅ Final Answer to Your Core Question

Is it possible to combine the two transformations in IDL?

Yes — absolutely.

You simply chain them:

string_chars()

→ filter(is_numeric)

→ join()

→ string_right(10)

That’s the clean and supported way to do it. Please let me know if the above helped😉

Originally replied by Barbara Buchanan on Feb 25, 2026, 1:03 PM.

Thank you, Brenda. I appreciate the detail. It worked perfectly! It's a keeper! Barb 😊

Originally replied by Brenda Sutton on Feb 25, 2026, 2:32 PM.

AWESOME! Appreciate you letting me know. It's good to have these types of examples on our side too. Have a great rest of your day! 😎

Originally replied by Barbara Buchanan on Feb 25, 2026, 2:49 PM.

Thank you! And FYI, I was immediately able to apply this information to coalesce (mailingaddress, primaryaddress) which is important for this integration.