kotindia-core/io.github.kotindia/DL/mask

mask

fun mask(value: String, visibleStart: Int = 0, visibleEnd: Int = 4, maskChar: Char = 'X'): String(source)

Masks a Driving License number for PII-safe display.

DL is a Private government ID (Photo ID + address proof) — always mask before displaying in UI or logging to ensure compliance with PII handling requirements.

Masking operates on the raw input string (not normalised). This is intentional — the masker is a display utility that works character-by-character on whatever string it receives. Callers who want to mask a normalised DL should call format first: DL.mask(DL.format(value)).

Default (visibleStart=0, visibleEnd=4, maskChar='X'): Shows last 4 characters, masks the rest. "MH1220110012345" → "XXXXXXXXXXX2345" (last 4: "2345")

Edge cases (all safe — never throws):

Empty input → returns "".
visibleStart + visibleEnd >= value.length → entire string returned unmasked (overlap rule).
Non-normalised input (lowercase, hyphens, spaces) → masking applied character-by-character on the raw string. No normalisation is performed.

Return

Masked string. Never throws — display-safe by contract.

Parameters

value

Raw DL string to mask. No normalisation is applied.

visibleStart

Number of leading characters to show unmasked. Default: 0.

visibleEnd

Number of trailing characters to show unmasked. Default: 4.

maskChar

Character to replace masked positions. Default: 'X'.

Samples

println(DL.mask("MH0120230012345"))