private String stripSeparators(String contact){
  contact=contact.replaceAll("[ -]","");
  Matcher matcher=PATTERN_CONTACT.matcher(contact);
  if (matcher.find()) {
    return matcher.group();
  }
  return null;
}

private String stripSeparators ( String contact ) { contact = contact . replaceAll ( "[ -]" , "" ) ; Matcher matcher = PATTERN_CONTACT . matcher ( contact ) ; if ( matcher . find ( ) ) { return matcher . group ( ) ; } return null ; }
removes blank and minus characters from contact
