# Leading zeros - remove for WA link

**URL:** <https://community.glideapps.com/t/leading-zeros-remove-for-wa-link/55667>\
**Category:** Ask for Help\
**Created:** [December 12, 2022, 9:18am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/leading-zeros-remove-for-wa-link/55667 "2022-12-12T09:18:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![IlseB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/ilseb/32/44063_2.png) [@IlseB](https://community.glideapps.com/u/IlseB)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 9:18am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/leading-zeros-remove-for-wa-link/55667/1 "2022-12-12T09:18:02Z")

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Hi,

i started out saving my mobile numbers as “number format” in order to use it directly as a Whatsapp link (it needs to omit the leading zero in the url).

then, i realised, the “phone number format” is much more useful to allow the user to call or message the number, it also displays with a leading zero to the end user which makes sense.

now, my problem is, if i use the phone number format, i need to find a way to get rid of the leading zero for my WA link - any suggestions other than reverting back to using number format for my mobile numbers?

thanks  
Ilse

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 9:21am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/leading-zeros-remove-for-wa-link/55667/2 "2022-12-12T09:21:59Z")

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You can use the [Extract Matching Text](https://www.glideapps.com/plugins/regex) plugin with the following regular expression:

```auto
^0(.*)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IlseB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/ilseb/32/44063_2.png) [@IlseB](https://community.glideapps.com/u/IlseB)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 10:40am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/leading-zeros-remove-for-wa-link/55667/3 "2022-12-12T10:40:09Z")

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> [@Darren\_Murphy](#):
>
> `^0(.*)`

Worked like a charm 🙂 🤩 have been learning regex the last couple of days but its quite a steep learning curve… thanks a million

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/system/32/53398_2.png) [@system](https://community.glideapps.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 11:34am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/leading-zeros-remove-for-wa-link/55667/5 "2022-12-13T11:34:35Z")

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