About This HTML Issue
Spaces are not permitted in the href value for phone links; the phone number must be a continuous string without spaces or slashes.
The href attribute of an anchor (<a>) element defines the link’s destination. For phone numbers, the proper URI scheme is tel:, not callto:. According to the HTML standard and the WHATWG Living Standard, the phone number should contain only digits and may use plus (+) or hyphen (-) characters for formatting, but it should not include spaces or slashes.
Incorrect HTML:
<a href="callto:07142/ 12 34 5">Call us</a>
Correct HTML:
<a href="tel:0714212345">Call us</a>
With country code and optional formatting:
<a href="tel:+49714212345">Call us</a>
For best compatibility and validation, always use the tel: scheme and ensure the phone number string contains only allowed characters.
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Last reviewed: July 22, 2025