>Hi everybody,
>
>I have phone in 6172529844 format, but in our database we store them with dashes, e.g. 617-252-9844 How can I transform this without using left, substr, etc. functions? Phones could be blank, in this case they should remain blank.
>
>
>Thanks in advance.

Disregard. It's R format code, but the Help is a little bit vague...