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Deidentify

A Go library for removing personally identifiable information (PII) from text data.

Project Structure

This project follows standard Go package conventions:

deidentify/
├── doc.go              # Package documentation
├── deidentify.go       # Main package implementation
├── data.go             # Replacement value tables (names, domains, streets)
├── patterns.go         # Regular expressions used for PII detection
├── deidentify_test.go  # Package tests
├── example_test.go     # Runnable godoc examples
├── benchmark_test.go   # Performance benchmarks
├── examples/           # Example programs
│   ├── basic/          # Simple text deidentification
│   ├── table/          # Table-based deidentification
│   ├── slices/         # CSV-like [][]string deidentification
│   └── international/  # International address handling
└── go.mod              # Module definition

Usage

The package provides functions to detect and redact PII from text. It can be imported and used in your Go applications:

import "github.com/aliengiraffe/deidentify"

See the examples directory for detailed usage patterns.

Design Principles

This package follows Go's design philosophy:

  1. Simplicity: The API is designed to be simple and intuitive
  2. Composability: Functions can be combined to create custom deidentification pipelines
  3. Efficiency: Optimized for performance with minimal allocations
  4. Error handling: Uses Go's standard error patterns for robust error reporting

API Overview

The package exposes types and functions following Go's idiomatic practices:

Core Types

  • Deidentifier: Replaces PII with deterministic, format-preserving substitutes. Safe for concurrent use.
  • DataType: The kind of PII a value holds (TypeName, TypeEmail, TypePhone, TypeSSN, TypeCreditCard, TypeAddress, TypeGeneric)
  • Table / Column: Column-oriented data to deidentify as a unit

Constructors

  • GenerateSecretKey() (string, error): Returns a hex-encoded 256-bit random key
  • NewDeidentifier(secretKey string) *Deidentifier: Creates a deidentifier bound to a secret key

Main Methods

  • Text(text string) (string, error): Finds and replaces PII in free-form text
  • Table(table *Table) (*Table, error): Deidentifies column-oriented data by declared type
  • Slices(data [][]string, optional ...interface{}) ([][]string, error): Deidentifies CSV-like data, inferring column types when not supplied

Single-value Methods

Name, Email, Phone, SSN, CreditCard, and Address each deidentify one value of a known type, returning (string, error). ClearMappings() discards the accumulated mapping tables.

Replacements are deterministic: the same input and secret key always produce the same output, which preserves referential integrity across records and runs.

Development Guidelines

When contributing to this project, follow these practices:

  1. Use gofmt to format all code

  2. Write tests for all new functionality

  3. Follow Effective Go guidelines:

    • Meaningful variable names
    • Proper error handling with descriptive error messages
    • Concise documentation with examples
    • Implementation of standard interfaces where appropriate

  4. Use idiomatic Go patterns:

    • Return errors rather than using panic
    • Use composition over inheritance
    • Make zero values useful

Testing

Run the test suite with:

go test

For more verbose output:

go test -v

Examples

The library includes multiple examples to demonstrate different usage patterns:

Basic Example

Simple text deidentification of strings and specific PII types:

go run examples/basic/main.go

Table Example

Comprehensive example for deidentifying structured data in tables:

go run examples/table/main.go

License

[License details here]