Telephone number parsing and linking

The present invention relates to identifying phone numbers in a text string including multiple data types and multiple number formatting types. A device such as a mobile device receives text strings from, for example, a memory, a networked content provider, another mobile device, or a keypad. A parsing engine comprises a telephone number module to analyze the text string by applying a set of parsing rules from a parsing rules database that describe telephone number characteristics. The parsing engine also comprises a non-telephone number module to identify non-telephone numbers such as an IP address, an email, a social security number, or the like. The parsing engine outputs parsing information including identified telephone numbers to a display application. The display application renders a user interface that displays the text string other than the telephone number in a first format and the telephone number in a second format including an activatable link.