Mask data with asterisk

[MarcosC_]

Hi all,

I need to mask some client data on the output file however, searching for this topic I only get annonymzed data / incoherent text. However the goal is for the knowing people to still be able to recognize who the client might be.

What I want is to keep the first letter of the cell followed by 3 asterisks.

So as an example, the cell would be John Smith, Ltd and after the formula the cell should be just J*** for example.

Any ideas on how can I do that?

Thanks,

Marcos

[binuacs]

@MarcosC_ use regex_replace() formula

[Pilsner · Accepted solution]

Hello @MarcosC_ 

I may have gone a bit over the top, but if you need the number * to match the number of characters, then you can do the following. 

1) Separate the first character and the remaining characters into separate cells. 

2) Replace all characters in the "remaining" column with *.

3) Append the first character back to the start. The solution looks something like this: 

I've attached the workflow below. 

Please let me know how you get on.

Regards - Pilsner

[MarcosC_]

Thank you both @Pilsner and @binuacs .

I had to incorporate both solutions in the end.

The client name field had many with spaces and dots in the middle so the first solution captured most of them but still had for example "J*** . Company LTD"

So the 2nd solution puts all the *** no matter the string length and then I just trim it down afterwards to reading the output and formatting with just three asterisks.

Thanks both.

[Pilsner]

Glad I could help. Thanks for sharing your final solution too!