Re: How to make data unidentifiable?

j_parrinello_at_msn.com (Joseph) wrote in message news:<dd497a10.0406090900.43e31290_at_posting.google.com>...
> Hello,
>
> I am building a database to be used for demonstration purposes. I wish to
> import the data from an existing database into the demo. However I need to
> tranform the data from the existing database so that the data is
> unidentifiable but meaningful. For example, I need to change the First
> name, Last name, Address, city, state, zip, Social Security etc...so that
> they are different to the original database but still have meaning in the
> new database. E.g. A record such as:
>
> Peter Paulas, 123 Main St, New York, New York, 10023, 555-342-3423
> becomes something like:
> Simon Trickle, 234 East St, Bronx, New York, 10023, 534-234-2333
>
> I would like the transformed record: Simon Trickle, to still be linked to
> the remaining data that is not tranformed. Has anybody tried this before
> and if so, do you have any easy solution.

I saw something one time that generated lists putting random names and numbers into that format, using common shell tools. Naturally, it came up with the
occasional naughty combination from innocuous input. Of course, Dick Trickle really is a race car driver. So the suggestion someone else made of using slave labor, er, students is actually pretty good, as long as you trust them. I long ago got into the habit of either making test data that is obviously not real data, one never knows what will wind up where, or using real data with appropriate protection. Real or munged-real data doesn't always make for good test or demo data - you want test data to stress the limits, and you want demo data to make a good impression.

Also, see the book "The AWK programming language." These things types of things are very easy to do in that language, that is what it was designed for. Assuming you are familiar with similar syntax from C or shell coding.

jg

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