respect/masker

Mask sensitive text data using flexible range-based patterns

1.0.0 2026-01-15 23:03 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.5
• symfony/polyfill-mbstring: ^1.33

Requires (Dev)

• phpstan/extension-installer: ^1.4
• phpstan/phpstan: ^2.1
• phpstan/phpstan-deprecation-rules: ^2.0
• phpstan/phpstan-phpunit: ^2.0
• phpunit/phpunit: ^12.5
• respect/coding-standard: ^5.0

ISC

• Henrique Moody

README

A powerful and flexible PHP library for masking sensitive text data using intuitive range-based patterns.

Whether you need to hide credit card numbers, mask email addresses, or protect user privacy, Masker gives you precise control over what gets hidden and what stays visible.

Installation

composer require respect/masker

Usage

Basic Usage

use Respect\Masker\TextMasker;

$masker = new TextMasker();

echo $masker->mask('1234123412341234', '1-3,8-12');
// Outputs: ***4123*****1234

API

mask

• mask(string $input, string $range): string
• mask(string $input, string $range, string $replacement): string

Masks the input string according to the specified range.

Parameters:

• $input: The string to mask
• $range: Comma-separated range specifications
• $replacement: The character to use for masking (default *)

Returns: The masked string

Throws: InvalidArgumentException when invalid ranges are provided

isValidRange

• isValidRange(string $range): bool

Validates whether the mask range specification is syntactically correct.

Range Syntax

Pattern	Description	Example
N	Single position (1-based)	3
N-	From position N to end	1-
N-M	Range from position N to M	1-3
-N	Last N characters	-3
C-M	From character C to character M	1-@
\N	Escaped numeral character	\5
\C	Escaped special character	\-, \,, or \\\\

Multiple ranges can be specified using commas: 1-B,6-8,10

Numeric Positions (1-based)

Use numeric positions to mask specific characters (1-based indexing).

Range	Input	Output
1-3	password123	***ord123
1-3	'12345'	***45
7-12	'1234567890'	123456******

Character Delimiters

Use character delimiters to mark ranges between characters in the string.

Range	Input	Output
1-@	[e-mail]	********@domain.com
A-\5	ABCDD1234567890EFGH	*********567890EFGH
A-\-	ABCD-1234567890EFGH	####-1234567890EFGH
B-\,	ABC,DEF,GHI	**C,DEF,GHI

Multiple Ranges

Combine multiple ranges using commas to mask non-contiguous sections.

Range	Input	Output
1-3,8-12	1234123412341234	***4123*****1234
1,3,5	'12345'	*2*4*
1-3,6-8,10	abcdefghij	***de***j
1,3,5	12345	*2*4*
1-3,8-12	'123456789012'	***45678******
A-D,5-8	ABCD1234567890EFGH	####D####567890EFGH
1-c,2-5	abc123def456	#####3def456

Special Patterns

Mask to end: Use 1- to mask from the beginning to the end
Mask last N: Use -N to mask the last N characters

Range	Input	Output
1-	12345678	********
-2	123456	1234**
-3	abcdefgh	abcde***

Escaping Special Characters

Escape special characters with backslash when they need to be used as literals.

Range	Input	Output
3-\5	1234567890	12**567890
1-\-	[e-mail]	*****[e-mail]
1-\\\\	path\to\file	****\to\file

To use -, \ and , as delimiters, you must always add backslashes before them.

Unicode Support

Full support for UTF-8 strings including accented characters.

Range	Input	Output
1-	oftalmoscópico	**************
2-6,9	áéíóúãõçüñ	á*****õç*ñ
-4	españolñç	españolñ*

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License - see the LICENSE file for details.