Regular Expression

Purpose

The Regular Expression masking format gives you the flexibility to use regular expressions to search for sensitive data in a column of Character Large Object (CLOB) or National Character Large Object (NCLOB) data types, and replace the data with a fixed string, fixed number, or null value. You can also use this masking format for columns of VARCHAR2 type to mask parts of strings.

Inputs

  • Regular Expression: The pattern that should be used to search for sensitive data
  • Replace With: The value that should be used to replace the data matching the regular expression

Supported Data Types

  • Character
  • Numeric
  • Large Object (LOB) - CLOB and NCLOB only

Characteristics

  • Supports Double-Byte Characters: Yes
  • Combinable: No
  • Deterministic: No
  • Reversible: No
  • Uniqueness: No

Examples

  • Use the regular expression @abc\.com to search for email addresses containing @abc.com and replace @abc.com with @example.com
  • Use the regular expression [A-Z]+@[A-Z]+\.[A-Z]{2,4} to mask email addresses by replacing with john.doe@abcd.com
  • Use the regular expression [0-9]{3}[ -][0-9]{2}[ -][0-9]{4} to match Social Security numbers and replace with ***-**-****
  • Use the regular expression <SALARY>[0-9]{2,6}</SALARY> to zero out salary information by replacing with <SALARY>0</SALARY>