mysql>  SHOW COLLATION WHERE Collation = ’utf8_phone_ci’; +---------------+---------+------+---------+----------+---------+ | Collation | Charset | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen | +---------------+---------+------+---------+----------+---------+ | utf8_phone_ci | utf8 | 1029 | | | 8 | +---------------+---------+------+---------+----------+---------+ mysql>  CREATE TABLE phonebook ( name VARCHAR(64), phone VARCHAR(64) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_phone_ci ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.09 sec) mysql>  INSERT INTO phonebook VALUES (’Svoj’,’+7 912 800 80 02’); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) mysql>  INSERT INTO phonebook VALUES (’Hf’,’+7 (912) 800 80 04’); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) mysql>  INSERT INTO phonebook VALUES (’Bar’,’+7-912-800-80-01’); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) mysql>  INSERT INTO phonebook VALUES (’Ramil’,’(7912) 800 80 03’); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) mysql>  INSERT INTO phonebook VALUES (’Sanja’,’+380 (912) 8008005’); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) mysql>  SELECT * FROM phonebook ORDER BY phone; +-------+--------------------+ | name | phone | +-------+--------------------+ | Sanja | +380 (912) 8008005 | | Bar | +7-912-800-80-01 | | Svoj | +7 912 800 80 02 | | Ramil | (7912) 800 80 03 | | Hf | +7 (912) 800 80 04 | +-------+--------------------+ 5 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  SELECT * FROM phonebook WHERE phone=’+7(912)800-80-01’; +------+------------------+ | name | phone | +------+------------------+ | Bar | +7-912-800-80-01 | +------+------------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  SELECT * FROM phonebook WHERE phone=’79128008001’; +------+------------------+ | name | phone | +------+------------------+ | Bar | +7-912-800-80-01 | +------+------------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec) mysql>  SELECT * FROM phonebook WHERE phone=’7 9 1 2 8 0 0 8 0 0 1’; +------+------------------+ 1999 Run some queries to see whether the ignored punctuation characters are in fact ignored for comparison and sorting: Create a table containing some sample phone numbers using the new collation: Now test the collation to make sure that it has the desired properties. Adding a UCA Collation to a Unicode Character Set