Package craterdog.smart

Class Censor

java.lang.Object
craterdog.smart.Censor
public class Censor extends Object
This class performs the masking function on a specified string value using a specified mask.
Author:
Yan Ma, Derk Norton

  • Constructor Summary

    Constructors
    Constructor
    Description
    Censor()
    This constructor creates a new Censor object that uses the default 'X' character for masking.
    Censor(char maskingCharacter)
    This constructor creates a new Censor object that uses the specified character for masking.

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    String
    process(String value, String mask)
    This method masks the given string according to the groups specified in the specified mask.

    Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

    clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

  • Constructor Details

    • Censor

      public Censor()
      This constructor creates a new Censor object that uses the default 'X' character for masking.

    • Censor

      public Censor(char maskingCharacter)
      This constructor creates a new Censor object that uses the specified character for masking.
      Parameters:
      maskingCharacter - The character to be used for masking the sensitive characters.

  • Method Details

    • process

      public String process(String value, String mask)
      This method masks the given string according to the groups specified in the specified mask. Parentheses are used to group the characters to be masked. You should make sure that no parenthesis are used in the parts that should remain as plain text.

      For example, a credit card number of 1234-5678-9012-3456 would be masked as follows with these masks:

      • mask pattern: ^\d{4}-(\d{4})-(\d{4})-\d{4}$ yields: 1234-XXXX-XXXX-3456
      • mask pattern: ^\d{4}(-(\d{4}-){2})\d{4}$ yields: 1234XXXXXXXXXXX3456
      • mask pattern: ^((\d{4}-){3})\d{4}$ yields: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX3456

      The java.util.regex.Pattern and java.util.regex.Matcher classes are used to locate the groups included in the round brackets. Please note, if the group is included in a repetition such as *, + or {m,n}, only the last appearance of the group would be masked.

      For example:

      • mask pattern: ^(\d{4}-){3}\d{4}$ yields: 1234-5678-XXXXX3456
      Parameters:
      value - The value to be masked.
      mask - The regular expression used to extract and mask the sensitive information.
      Returns:
      The masked value.