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 Large Object data type (LOBs include BLOBs, CLOBs, NCLOBs), 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)

Characteristics

• Supports Double-Byte Characters: Yes
• Combinable: Yes
• 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 [e-mail]
• 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>