Category Definitions

Out of the box, the format library provides many different formats for credit cards. The credit card numbers generated by these formats pass the standard credit card validation tests by the applications, thereby making them appear like valid credit card numbers.

Some of the credit card formats you can use include:

• MasterCard numbers

• Visa card numbers

• American Express card numbers

• Discover Card numbers

• Any credit card number (credit card numbers belong to all types of cards)

You may want to use different styles for storing credit card numbers, such as:

• Pure numbers

• 'Space' for every four digits

• 'Hyphen' ( - ) for every four digits, and so forth

To implement the masked values in a certain format style, you can set the DM_CC_FORMAT variable of the DM_FMTLIB package. To install the package, see "Installing the DM_FMTLIB Package" .

Out of the box, you can generate valid U.S. Social Security (SSN) numbers. These SSNs pass the normal application tests of a valid SSN.

You can affect the format style by setting the DM_SSN_FORMAT variable of the DM_FMTLIB package. For example, if you set this variable to ‘-', the typical social security number would appear as ‘123-45-6789'.

Using the format library, you can generate either 10-digit or 13-digit ISBN numbers. These numbers adhere to standard ISBN number validation tests. All of these ISBN numbers are random in nature. Similar to other format definitions, you can affect the "style" of the ISBN format by setting values to DM_ISBN_FORMAT.

Using the format library, you can generate valid UPC numbers. They adhere to standard tests for valid UPC numbers. You can affect the formatting style by setting the DM_UPC_FORMAT value of the DM_FMTLIB package.

Using the format library, you can generate valid Canadian Social Insurance Numbers (SINs). These numbers adhere to standard tests of Canadian SINs. You can affect the formatting style by setting the DM_CN_SIN_FORMAT value of the DM_FMTLIB package.

Out of the box, the format library provides various possible U.S. and Canadian phone numbers. These are valid, realistic looking numbers that can pass standard phone number validation tests employed by applications. You can generate the following types of numbers:

• Any North American phone numbers

• Any Canadian phone number

• Any U.S.A. phone number

Using the format library, you can generate valid unique random UK National Insurance Numbers (NINs). These numbers adhere to standard tests of UK NINs. A typical national insurance number would appear as 'GR 12 56 34 RS'.

This format scrambles characters and numbers into masked characters and numbers and while retaining the format and length of the data, including special characters; for example, 'ABCD_343-ddg' masked as 'FHDT_657-tte'.