Masks describe the shape of a data value based on a pattern of alphabetic and numeric characters. You use the Mask Definitions Tool to add mask-phrase definitions and associate them with categories in much the same way you add word and phrase definitions in the Word Definitions Tool (although the synonym and multiple phrase options do not apply to mask definitions).
Defining masks can save the time of creating word definitions for certain values; for example defining masks for dates would be faster than defining every date value that may occur in your data.
Use masks to discover:
- Misspellings
- Typing errors and other inconsistencies that determine whether or not the mask pattern(s) is correct
Masks consist of:
| a | alphabetic characters |
| n | numbers |
| specialchar |
Characters other than letters or numbers, including punctuation marks, are represented by the characteritself; for example @, &, %, /. |
Example
Say you have product codes for which you want to create a mask. The mask would allow you to identify irregularities in your source data by verifying the codes that conform to the mask shape; for example, a product code of ZZ1234 would have a mask of aannnn. Masks can also be recoded to standardize the data. A possible recode of aannnn is aa-nnnn.
To add mask definitions