# tPatternMasking Standard properties These properties are used to configure tPatternMasking running in the Standard Job framework. The Standard tPatternMasking component belongs to the Data Quality family. ## Basic settings | Properties | Description | | --- | --- | | Schema and Edit Schema | | | Modifications | Define in the table what fields to change and how to change
them:


Column to mask: Select the column from the input
flow for which you want to generate similar data by modifying its
values.

You can mask data from different columns but you need to follow the order
of the fields you want to mask.

Each column is processed sequentially, meaning that data masking
operations will be performed on the data from the first column, the
second column, and so on.

In a colum, each data field is a fixed length field, except the last data
field.

For fixed length fields, each value must contain the same number of
characters, for example: "30001,30002,30003" or
"FR,EN".

In a column, the last Enumeration or Enumeration
from file data field is a variable length field.

For variable length fields, each value might not always contain the same
number of characters, for example:
"30001,300023,30003" or
"FR,ENG".

Field type: Select the field type the data belongs to.



In the Values, Path,
Range and Date Range,
values must be enclosed in double quotes.

When the input data is invalid, meaning that a value
does not match the pattern defined in the component, the generated value is
null. | ## Advanced settings | Properties | Description | | --- | --- | | Method | The component uses Format-Preserving Encryption (FPE)
methods to generate masked output values in the same format as the input values.

The FPE methods are bijective methods, except when
using tweaks.

The Basic method is the default
algorithm.

Information noteNote: As the masking methods are stronger, it is recommended to use the FF1
algorithms rather than the Basic method.

The FF1 with AES method is based
on the Advanced Encryption Standard in CBC mode. The FF1 with
SHA-2 method depends on the secure hash function HMAC-256.

You can use those methods only if the number of possible
values the component can generate from the input pattern is greater than
or equal to 1,000,000.

Information noteNote: Java 8u161 is the minimum
required version to use the FF1 with AES method.
To be able to use this FPE method with Java versions earlier than 8u161, download the
Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) unlimited strength jurisdiction policy files from
Oracle website.

The FF1 with AES and
FF1 with SHA-2 methods require a password to
be specified in the Password or 256-bit key for FF1 methods
field of the Advanced settings to generate unique
masked values. | | FF1 settings | Password or 256-bit key for FF1 methods: Set the password or secret key required for the
FF1 with AES and FF1
with SHA-2 methods to generate unique masked
values. If the password is not set, a random password is created
at each Job execution. When using the FF1 with
AES and FF1 with SHA-2
methods and a password, the seed from the Seed for
random generator field is not
used.


You can get the 256-bit key using:




Use tweaks with FF1 Encryption: Select this check box to use tweaks. A unique tweak is
generated for each record and applies to all data of a record.
If bijective masking is necessary, do not use this feature.
For more information about tweaks, see the [data masking functions](https://help.qlik.com/talend/r/en-US/8.0/components/data-privacy/data-masking-functions-in-masking-components).


Use a column containing the tweaks: Available when Use tweaks with FF1
Encryption check box is selected. Select this check box to
use an input column as the input for tweaks which must be 32 digit
hexadecimal strings.


Column containing the tweaks: Available when the Use a column
containing the tweaks check box is selected. Select the
column that contains the tweaks.



Key derivation function
: Select the key derivation function. Jobs created from
Talend Studio 8.0 R2022-04 run using PBKDF2 with 300,000
iterations.

When you import a Job prior to Talend Studio 8.0 R2022-04, you can run the Job using 300,000 iterations. The results will
be different than using 65,536 iterations. | | Seed for random generator | Set a random number if you want to generate the same sample of
substitute data in each execution of the Job. The seed is not set by default.

If you do not set the seed, the component
creates a new random seed for each Job execution. Repeating the execution with a
different seed will result in a different sample being generated. | | Encoding | Select the encoding from the list or select Custom and define it manually. If you select Custom and leave the field empty, the supported
encodings depend on the JVM that you are using. This field is compulsory for the file
encoding. | | Output the original row | Select this check box to output original data rows in addition to the
substitute data. Outputting both the original and substitute data can be useful in debug
or test processes. | | Null input returns null | This check box is selected by
default. When selected, the component outputs null when
input values are null.

When cleared, and when the input data is null, the input data
are sent to the "Invalid" output flow.

From Talend Studio
R2024-08 onwards, when Null input returns null is selected
and the input data is null, the masking function is not applied,
null is returned and the input data are sent to the main flow. | | Empty input returns an empty output | When this check box is selected, empty values are left unchanged in
the output data. Otherwise, the selected functions are applied to the input
data. | | Send invalid data to
"Invalid" output flow | This check box is selected by default.




Invalid data are any values that do not match the pattern. | | tStat Catcher Statistics | Select this checkbox to gather the Job processing metadata at the Job level
as well as at each component level. | ## Usage | Usage guidance | Description | | --- | --- | | **Usage rule** | This component is an intermediary step. It requires an input and
output flows. |