Buy a Number

You need to purchase a Nexmo virtual number if you want to:

This page shows you how to buy a number programmatically.

You can also cancel a number online, using the developer dashboard or from the command line, using the Nexmo CLI.

Replace the following variables in the sample code with your own values:

Name Description
NEXMO_API_KEY Your Nexmo API key
NEXMO_API_SECRET Your Nexmo API secret
COUNTRY_CODE The two digit country code for the number you want to cancel. For example: GB for the United Kingdom.
NEXMO_NUMBER The Nexmo virtual number you want to cancel. Omit the leading zero but include the international dialing code. For example: 447700900000.
  • cURL
  • Node.js
  • Java
  • .NET
  • PHP
  • Python
  • Ruby

    • Write the code

    Add the following to buy-number.sh:

    Copy to Clipboard 
    curl -X POST \
  "https://rest.nexmo.com/number/buy?api_key=$NEXMO_API_KEY&api_secret=$NEXMO_API_SECRET" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "country=${COUNTRY_CODE}&msisdn=${NEXMO_NUMBER}"

    View full source

    Run your code

    Save this file to your machine and run it: 

    sh buy-number.sh

    Prerequisites

    Install dependencies

    npm install nexmo
    Initialize your dependencies

    Create a file named buy.js and add the following code:

    Copy to Clipboard 
    const Nexmo = require('nexmo')

const nexmo = new Nexmo(
  {
    apiKey: NEXMO_API_KEY,
    apiSecret: NEXMO_API_SECRET
  },
  {
    debug: true
  }
)

    View full source

    Write the code

    Add the following to buy.js:

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    nexmo.number.buy(COUNTRY_CODE, NEXMO_NUMBER, (err, res) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
  }
  else {
    console.log(JSON.stringify(res, null, 2))
  }
})

    View full source

    Run your code

    Save this file to your machine and run it: 

    node buy.js

    Prerequisites

    Install dependencies

    Add the following to `build.gradle`:

    compile 'com.nexmo:client:5.1.0'
    Initialize your dependencies

    Create a class named BuyNumber and add the following code to the main method:

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    NexmoClient client = NexmoClient.builder()
        .apiKey(NEXMO_API_KEY)
        .apiSecret(NEXMO_API_SECRET)
        .build();

    View full source

    Write the code

    Add the following to the main method of the BuyNumber class:

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    NumbersClient numbersClient = client.getNumbersClient();

numbersClient.buyNumber(COUNTRY_CODE, NEXMO_NUMBER);

    View full source

    Run your code

    We can use the application plugin for Gradle to simplify the running of our application. Update your build.gradle with the following:

      apply plugin: 'application'
  mainClassName = project.hasProperty('main') ? project.getProperty('main') : ''

    Run the following gradle command to execute your application, replacing com.nexmo.quickstart.numbers with the package containing BuyNumber:

    gradle run -Pmain=com.nexmo.quickstart.numbers.BuyNumber

    Prerequisites

    Install dependencies

    Install-Package Nexmo.Csharp.Client
    Initialize your dependencies

    Create a file named NumbersController.cs and add the following code:

    Copy to Clipboard 
    const string API_KEY = "NEXMO_API_KEY";
const string API_SECRET = "NEXMO_API_SECRET";

var client = new Client(creds: new Nexmo.Api.Request.Credentials(
    nexmoApiKey: API_KEY, nexmoApiSecret: API_SECRET));

    View full source

    Write the code

    Add the following to NumbersController.cs:

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    var result = Client.Number.Buy(COUNTRY_CODE, NEXMO_NUMBER);

    View full source

    Prerequisites

    Install dependencies

    composer require nexmo/client
    Initialize your dependencies

    Create a file named purchase.php and add the following code:

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    $basic = new \Nexmo\Client\Credentials\Basic(NEXMO_API_KEY, NEXMO_API_SECRET);
$client = new \Nexmo\Client($basic);

    View full source

    Write the code

    Add the following to purchase.php:

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    try {
    $client->numbers()->purchase(NEXMO_NUMBER, COUNTRY_CODE);
    echo "Number purchased";
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Error purchasing number";
}

    View full source

    Run your code

    Save this file to your machine and run it: 

    php purchase.php

    Prerequisites

    Install dependencies

    pip install nexmo
    Initialize your dependencies

    Create a file named buy.py and add the following code:

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    import nexmo

client = nexmo.Client(key=NEXMO_API_KEY, secret=NEXMO_API_SECRET)

    View full source

    Write the code

    Add the following to buy.py:

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    try:
    response = client.buy_number({"country": COUNTRY_CODE, "msisdn": NEXMO_NUMBER})
    print("Number purchased")
except Exception as exc:
    print("Error purchasing number", exc)

    View full source

    Run your code

    Save this file to your machine and run it: 

    python buy.py

    Prerequisites

    Install dependencies

    gem install nexmo
    Initialize your dependencies

    Create a file named buy.rb and add the following code:

    Copy to Clipboard 
    client = Nexmo::Client.new(
  api_key: NEXMO_API_KEY,
  api_secret: NEXMO_API_SECRET
)

    View full source

    Write the code

    Add the following to buy.rb:

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    begin
  response = client.numbers.buy(
    country: COUNTRY_CODE,
    msisdn: NEXMO_NUMBER
  )
  puts "Number purchased"
rescue
  puts "Error purchasing number"
end

    View full source

    Run your code

    Save this file to your machine and run it: 

    ruby buy.rb

    See also