You can examine an attribute for a unique mask pattern. A mask is a description of a word, phrase, or number and identifies each character as alphabetic, numeric, or a special character. The mask pattern is the pattern shape produced by this encoding and shows the common qualities unique to a word(s), phrase(s), or number(s).
Before you examine a mask, you should be familiar with the encoding conventions used by the mask pattern.
View values matching a mask
To view values matching a mask
- In the Navigation View, click the Discover bar, then click the Entities tab.
- Expand the entity in which you are interested.
- Right-click the attribute and select Drill down to metadata. (You can also open the attribute's Summary Data View, and click Attribute Metadata.) The List View of attribute metadata displays.
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Double-click the row of Masks metadata.
The Masks List View displays.
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Examine the Masks List View.
- Explain List View columns…
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Column Name
Description
Mask
Mask code of the data.
Mask Stats
Total number of alphabetic (A) and numeric (N) characters in the mask pattern. If there are no alphabetic or numeric characters, a question mark (?) displays.
Value Count
Number of distinct values that are identified by the mask.
Frequency
Frequency of the mask; how many times the mask pattern appears in the attribute.
Dist %
Percentage of rows in an entity that contain patterns matching this mask. Dist % means distribution (in percents) of the mask pattern across the attribute.
Recoding Mask
Displays if any mask has been recoded and shows all recoded masks.
Mask Recoded?
Displays if the mask in the List View has been recoded. Yes indicates the masks that have changed.
- Select one or more mask values.
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Right-click the selection and select Drill down to matching values.
The Values List View displays.
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Examine the data values that match the mask code(s) you selected.
Note: You may find that you first need to examine entity rows and understand the context of a mask before you can determine whether a mask is correct or not.
Examine matching rows
To examine matching rows
By examining matching rows, you can discover misspellings, different name or value conventions, typing errors, and other inconsistencies that determine whether a mask pattern is correct or not.
- Follow Steps 1-4 above in To view values matching a mask.
- In the Masks List View, group all values that have the same mask code or pattern by sorting the Mask or Mask Stats columns.
- Select the rows you want to investigate.
- Right-click the selection and select Drill down to matching values.
- Examine the rows that match the values you selected.
To view a mask distribution chart
- Open a Summary Data View for an attribute.
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Click the Content Summary tab, and click Masks Distribution.
The Top 5 Masks pie chart displays, showing the 5 masks that occur the most in the attribute, and a section that represents the total percentage of all other masks found.
- Double-click in the pie chart to drill down to a List View of masks for the selected attribute.