Cloud Data Loss Prevention (Cloud DLP) is now a part of Sensitive Data Protection. The API name remains the same: Cloud Data Loss Prevention API (DLP API). For information about the services that make up Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection overview.

Inspect a string

Demonstrates finding sensitive data in a string.

Explore further

For detailed documentation that includes this code sample, see the following:

Inspecting text for sensitive data

Code sample

C#

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.


using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Google.Api.Gax.ResourceNames;
using Google.Cloud.Dlp.V2;
using static Google.Cloud.Dlp.V2.InspectConfig.Types;

public class InspectString
{
    public static InspectContentResponse Inspect(
        string projectId,
        string dataValue,
        string minLikelihood,
        int maxFindings,
        bool includeQuote,
        IEnumerable<InfoType> infoTypes,
        IEnumerable<CustomInfoType> customInfoTypes)
    {
        var inspectConfig = new InspectConfig
        {
            MinLikelihood = (Likelihood)Enum.Parse(typeof(Likelihood), minLikelihood, true),
            Limits = new FindingLimits
            {
                MaxFindingsPerRequest = maxFindings
            },
            IncludeQuote = includeQuote,
            InfoTypes = { infoTypes },
            CustomInfoTypes = { customInfoTypes }
        };
        var request = new InspectContentRequest
        {
            Parent = new LocationName(projectId, "global").ToString(),
            Item = new ContentItem
            {
                Value = dataValue
            },
            InspectConfig = inspectConfig
        };

        var dlp = DlpServiceClient.Create();
        var response = dlp.InspectContent(request);

        PrintResponse(includeQuote, response);

        return response;
    }

    private static void PrintResponse(bool includeQuote, InspectContentResponse response)
    {
        var findings = response.Result.Findings;
        if (findings.Any())
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Findings:");
            foreach (var finding in findings)
            {
                if (includeQuote)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine($"  Quote: {finding.Quote}");
                }
                Console.WriteLine($"  InfoType: {finding.InfoType}");
                Console.WriteLine($"  Likelihood: {finding.Likelihood}");
            }
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("No findings.");
        }
    }
}

Go

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	dlp "cloud.google.com/go/dlp/apiv2"
	"cloud.google.com/go/dlp/apiv2/dlppb"
)

// inspectString inspects the a given string, and prints results.
func inspectString(w io.Writer, projectID, textToInspect string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// textToInspect := "My name is Gary and my email is gary@example.com"
	ctx := context.Background()

	// Initialize client.
	client, err := dlp.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer client.Close() // Closing the client safely cleans up background resources.

	// Create and send the request.
	req := &dlppb.InspectContentRequest{
		Parent: fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/locations/global", projectID),
		Item: &dlppb.ContentItem{
			DataItem: &dlppb.ContentItem_Value{
				Value: textToInspect,
			},
		},
		InspectConfig: &dlppb.InspectConfig{
			InfoTypes: []*dlppb.InfoType{
				{Name: "PHONE_NUMBER"},
				{Name: "EMAIL_ADDRESS"},
				{Name: "CREDIT_CARD_NUMBER"},
			},
			IncludeQuote: true,
		},
	}
	resp, err := client.InspectContent(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	// Process the results.
	result := resp.Result
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Findings: %d\n", len(result.Findings))
	for _, f := range result.Findings {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "\tQuote: %s\n", f.Quote)
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "\tInfo type: %s\n", f.InfoType.Name)
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "\tLikelihood: %s\n", f.Likelihood)
	}
	return nil
}

Java

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.


import com.google.cloud.dlp.v2.DlpServiceClient;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.ByteContentItem;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.ByteContentItem.BytesType;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.ContentItem;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.Finding;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.InfoType;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.InspectConfig;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.InspectContentRequest;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.InspectContentResponse;
import com.google.privacy.dlp.v2.LocationName;
import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class InspectString {

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String textToInspect = "My name is Gary and my email is gary@example.com";
    inspectString(projectId, textToInspect);
  }

  // Inspects the provided text.
  public static void inspectString(String projectId, String textToInspect) throws IOException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the "close" method on the client to safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (DlpServiceClient dlp = DlpServiceClient.create()) {
      // Specify the type and content to be inspected.
      ByteContentItem byteItem =
          ByteContentItem.newBuilder()
              .setType(BytesType.TEXT_UTF8)
              .setData(ByteString.copyFromUtf8(textToInspect))
              .build();
      ContentItem item = ContentItem.newBuilder().setByteItem(byteItem).build();

      // Specify the type of info the inspection will look for.
      List<InfoType> infoTypes = new ArrayList<>();
      // See https://cloud.google.com/dlp/docs/infotypes-reference for complete list of info types
      for (String typeName : new String[] {"PHONE_NUMBER", "EMAIL_ADDRESS", "CREDIT_CARD_NUMBER"}) {
        infoTypes.add(InfoType.newBuilder().setName(typeName).build());
      }

      // Construct the configuration for the Inspect request.
      InspectConfig config =
          InspectConfig.newBuilder().addAllInfoTypes(infoTypes).setIncludeQuote(true).build();

      // Construct the Inspect request to be sent by the client.
      InspectContentRequest request =
          InspectContentRequest.newBuilder()
              .setParent(LocationName.of(projectId, "global").toString())
              .setItem(item)
              .setInspectConfig(config)
              .build();

      // Use the client to send the API request.
      InspectContentResponse response = dlp.inspectContent(request);

      // Parse the response and process results
      System.out.println("Findings: " + response.getResult().getFindingsCount());
      for (Finding f : response.getResult().getFindingsList()) {
        System.out.println("\tQuote: " + f.getQuote());
        System.out.println("\tInfo type: " + f.getInfoType().getName());
        System.out.println("\tLikelihood: " + f.getLikelihood());
      }
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

// Imports the Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention library
const DLP = require('@google-cloud/dlp');

// Instantiates a client
const dlp = new DLP.DlpServiceClient();

// The project ID to run the API call under
// const projectId = 'my-project';

// The string to inspect
// const string = 'My name is Gary and my email is gary@example.com';

// The minimum likelihood required before returning a match
// const minLikelihood = 'LIKELIHOOD_UNSPECIFIED';

// The maximum number of findings to report per request (0 = server maximum)
// const maxFindings = 0;

// The infoTypes of information to match
// const infoTypes = [{ name: 'PHONE_NUMBER' }, { name: 'EMAIL_ADDRESS' }, { name: 'CREDIT_CARD_NUMBER' }];

// The customInfoTypes of information to match
// const customInfoTypes = [{ infoType: { name: 'DICT_TYPE' }, dictionary: { wordList: { words: ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']}}},
//   { infoType: { name: 'REGEX_TYPE' }, regex: {pattern: '\\(\\d{3}\\) \\d{3}-\\d{4}'}}];

// Whether to include the matching string
// const includeQuote = true;

async function inspectString() {
  // Construct item to inspect
  const item = {value: string};

  // Construct request
  const request = {
    parent: `projects/${projectId}/locations/global`,
    inspectConfig: {
      infoTypes: infoTypes,
      customInfoTypes: customInfoTypes,
      minLikelihood: minLikelihood,
      includeQuote: includeQuote,
      limits: {
        maxFindingsPerRequest: maxFindings,
      },
    },
    item: item,
  };

  // Run request
  const [response] = await dlp.inspectContent(request);
  const findings = response.result.findings;
  if (findings.length > 0) {
    console.log('Findings:');
    findings.forEach(finding => {
      if (includeQuote) {
        console.log(`\tQuote: ${finding.quote}`);
      }
      console.log(`\tInfo type: ${finding.infoType.name}`);
      console.log(`\tLikelihood: ${finding.likelihood}`);
    });
  } else {
    console.log('No findings.');
  }
}
inspectString();

PHP

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

use Google\Cloud\Dlp\V2\Client\DlpServiceClient;
use Google\Cloud\Dlp\V2\ContentItem;
use Google\Cloud\Dlp\V2\InfoType;
use Google\Cloud\Dlp\V2\InspectConfig;
use Google\Cloud\Dlp\V2\InspectContentRequest;
use Google\Cloud\Dlp\V2\Likelihood;

/**
 * @param string $projectId
 * @param string $textToInspect
 */
function inspect_string(string $projectId, string $textToInspect): void
{
    // Instantiate a client.
    $dlp = new DlpServiceClient();

    // Construct request
    $parent = "projects/$projectId/locations/global";
    $item = (new ContentItem())
        ->setValue($textToInspect);
    $inspectConfig = (new InspectConfig())
        // The infoTypes of information to match
        ->setInfoTypes([
            (new InfoType())->setName('PHONE_NUMBER'),
            (new InfoType())->setName('EMAIL_ADDRESS'),
            (new InfoType())->setName('CREDIT_CARD_NUMBER')
        ])
        // Whether to include the matching string
        ->setIncludeQuote(true);

    // Run request
    $inspectContentRequest = (new InspectContentRequest())
        ->setParent($parent)
        ->setInspectConfig($inspectConfig)
        ->setItem($item);
    $response = $dlp->inspectContent($inspectContentRequest);

    // Print the results
    $findings = $response->getResult()->getFindings();
    if (count($findings) == 0) {
        print('No findings.' . PHP_EOL);
    } else {
        print('Findings:' . PHP_EOL);
        foreach ($findings as $finding) {
            print('  Quote: ' . $finding->getQuote() . PHP_EOL);
            print('  Info type: ' . $finding->getInfoType()->getName() . PHP_EOL);
            $likelihoodString = Likelihood::name($finding->getLikelihood());
            print('  Likelihood: ' . $likelihoodString . PHP_EOL);
        }
    }
}

Python

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

from typing import List

import google.cloud.dlp


def inspect_string(
    project: str,
    content_string: str,
    info_types: List[str],
    custom_dictionaries: List[str] = None,
    custom_regexes: List[str] = None,
    min_likelihood: str = None,
    max_findings: str = None,
    include_quote: bool = True,
) -> None:
    """Uses the Data Loss Prevention API to analyze strings for protected data.
    Args:
        project: The Google Cloud project id to use as a parent resource.
        content_string: The string to inspect.
        info_types: A list of strings representing info types to look for.
            A full list of info type categories can be fetched from the API.
        min_likelihood: A string representing the minimum likelihood threshold
            that constitutes a match. One of: 'LIKELIHOOD_UNSPECIFIED',
            'VERY_UNLIKELY', 'UNLIKELY', 'POSSIBLE', 'LIKELY', 'VERY_LIKELY'.
        max_findings: The maximum number of findings to report; 0 = no maximum.
        include_quote: Boolean for whether to display a quote of the detected
            information in the results.
    Returns:
        None; the response from the API is printed to the terminal.
    """

    # Instantiate a client.
    dlp = google.cloud.dlp_v2.DlpServiceClient()

    # Prepare info_types by converting the list of strings into a list of
    # dictionaries (protos are also accepted).
    info_types = [{"name": info_type} for info_type in info_types]

    # Prepare custom_info_types by parsing the dictionary word lists and
    # regex patterns.
    if custom_dictionaries is None:
        custom_dictionaries = []
    dictionaries = [
        {
            "info_type": {"name": f"CUSTOM_DICTIONARY_{i}"},
            "dictionary": {"word_list": {"words": custom_dict.split(",")}},
        }
        for i, custom_dict in enumerate(custom_dictionaries)
    ]
    if custom_regexes is None:
        custom_regexes = []
    regexes = [
        {
            "info_type": {"name": f"CUSTOM_REGEX_{i}"},
            "regex": {"pattern": custom_regex},
        }
        for i, custom_regex in enumerate(custom_regexes)
    ]
    custom_info_types = dictionaries + regexes

    # Construct the configuration dictionary. Keys which are None may
    # optionally be omitted entirely.
    inspect_config = {
        "info_types": info_types,
        "custom_info_types": custom_info_types,
        "min_likelihood": min_likelihood,
        "include_quote": include_quote,
        "limits": {"max_findings_per_request": max_findings},
    }

    # Construct the `item`.
    item = {"value": content_string}

    # Convert the project id into a full resource id.
    parent = f"projects/{project}"

    # Call the API.
    response = dlp.inspect_content(
        request={"parent": parent, "inspect_config": inspect_config, "item": item}
    )

    # Print out the results.
    if response.result.findings:
        for finding in response.result.findings:
            try:
                if finding.quote:
                    print(f"Quote: {finding.quote}")
            except AttributeError:
                pass
            print(f"Info type: {finding.info_type.name}")
            print(f"Likelihood: {finding.likelihood}")
    else:
        print("No findings.")

Ruby

To learn how to install and use the client library for Sensitive Data Protection, see Sensitive Data Protection client libraries.

To authenticate to Sensitive Data Protection, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

# project_id   = "Your Google Cloud project ID"
# content      = "The text to inspect"
# max_findings = "Maximum number of findings to report per request (0 = server maximum)"

require "google/cloud/dlp"

dlp = Google::Cloud::Dlp.dlp_service
inspect_config = {
  # The types of information to match
  info_types:     [{ name: "PERSON_NAME" }, { name: "US_STATE" }],

  # Only return results above a likelihood threshold (0 for all)
  min_likelihood: :POSSIBLE,

  # Limit the number of findings (0 for no limit)
  limits:         { max_findings_per_request: max_findings },

  # Whether to include the matching string in the response
  include_quote:  true
}

# The item to inspect
item_to_inspect = { value: content }

# Run request
parent = "projects/#{project_id}/locations/global"
response = dlp.inspect_content parent:         parent,
                               inspect_config: inspect_config,
                               item:           item_to_inspect

# Print the results
if response.result.findings.empty?
  puts "No findings"
else
  response.result.findings.each do |finding|
    puts "Quote:      #{finding.quote}"
    puts "Info type:  #{finding.info_type.name}"
    puts "Likelihood: #{finding.likelihood}"
  end
end

What's next

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