Hide names, emails, phone numbers, and any words you choose. Replace them with asterisks, black bars, labels, or numbered placeholders, all in your browser.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you enter is never sent anywhere.Your input is never sent anywhere.
DetailsAdvanced: regular expressions
Each line is one JavaScript regular expression. Whole words only does not apply to these.
Result
Waiting for text
How to censor or redact words in a text
Paste your text, list the words to hide, and the tool replaces them everywhere they appear. You can also hide whole kinds of data at once, such as emails, phone numbers, card numbers, and links, by picking a format.
The replacement is up to you: a label like [REDACTED], asterisks or █ bars of the same length, a mask that keeps the first or last characters, or numbered labels such as [PERSON 1] that keep a conversation readable. Every replaced part is highlighted in the result.
Matching is by whole words and ignores case by default, so hiding a short word does not damage longer words that contain it.
When you need to hide parts of a text
Logs and support tickets
Remove emails, IP addresses, and account details from a log or a customer message before you paste it into a ticket, a forum, or a chat.
Before you paste into a chatbot
Strip names, contact details, and amounts from a draft so you share the structure of the text and not the personal data in it.
Interviews and survey notes
Use numbered labels to turn names into [PERSON 1] and [PERSON 2]. The same person keeps the same label from start to end.
Spoilers and names in posts
Replace a plot point with a label, or break up a name's letters so a plain search does not match it, while friends can still read it.
Censor text in 4 steps
- Paste your text into Original text.
- Type the words to hide into Words to censor, separated by commas or new lines, and click any formats such as Email or Phone to find them automatically.
- Choose Replace with: Text, Mask (same length), Numbered labels, or Break up letters, and set its options.
- Check the highlighted result, then click Copy result.
Note: The result updates as you type. Each replaced part is highlighted, so you can check what changed before you copy.
How matching and replacing work
- Words: separate them with commas or new lines. Symbols such as . ( and + are taken literally. A phrase with spaces, like Project Falcon, is matched as one phrase.
- Whole words only: a match must not touch a letter, number, or underscore on either side. A name next to a dot or an @ sign still counts, so jane is found inside [email protected].
- Formats: they match a shape. Phone is a 10-digit US-style number with an optional +1. Card number is 13 to 19 digits that may be separated by spaces or dashes. SSN format is 3-2-4 digits with dashes. IPv4 is four groups of up to 3 digits, and the groups are not checked against 255. No format checks that a number is real.
- One pass: all matches are found in your original text, overlapping ones are merged, and each part is replaced once. A replacement is never searched again, so a label like [REDACTED] cannot be hit by one of your words.
- Mask: characters are counted as people see them, so an emoji counts as one. Spaces and punctuation are kept by default. If Keep first plus Keep last covers the whole match, all of it is masked.
- Numbered labels: the same text gets the same number. Your words use the label you set, and each format uses its own, such as EMAIL or PHONE.
- Regular expressions: JavaScript patterns, one per line, with Ignore upper and lower case applied. Whole words only does not apply to them.
Replacement styles with examples
The same match, Jane, hidden in each style, and where each fits.
| Style | Setting | Example result | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text | [REDACTED] | [REDACTED] | Hand-offs where nothing should show |
| Mask (same length) | Symbol * | **** | Quick hiding where length does not matter |
| Mask, keep first | Keep first 1 | J*** | Friendly, low-risk cases |
| Mask, keep last | Keep last 4, symbol • | •••• •••• •••• 1111 for a card number | Receipts and confirmations |
| Numbered labels | Label PERSON | [PERSON 1] | Interviews, transcripts, logs |
| Break up letters | Separator . | J.a.n.e | Names in posts, not secrets |
Pick by risk. A same-length mask and a kept first or last letter both give hints about the original. Use Text or Numbered labels when the information must stay hidden.
Your text stays in the browser. The tool has no upload step, so the original and the censored version are not sent anywhere.
Censoring and redacting without leaks or false hits
Three ways a censored text goes wrong, and how to avoid each one.
Match whole words to avoid the Scunthorpe problem
In 1996, AOL's profanity filter stopped residents of Scunthorpe from creating accounts, because the town's name contains a blocked string. Filters that match plain substrings keep making this kind of mistake.
Whole words only is on by default for that reason. Turn it off only when you really want to catch a string inside longer words.
A black box is not redaction
In a 2019 court filing in the Paul Manafort case, text that looked blacked out could still be copied, because the box sat on top of the text instead of removing it.
This tool replaces the characters themselves, so the hidden words are not in the copied result. Keep the original in a separate place, and paste the censored result into a new document instead of covering text in the old one.
Formats find shapes, not meaning
An email, a US-style phone number, and an SSN-shaped number all have a recognizable form, so a format can find them. A name, an address, or a project code word has no fixed form.
Add those as words, and read the highlighted result before you share it. A pattern that finds nothing does not prove the text is clean.
Length and kept letters can give a word away
A same-length mask shows how long the hidden word is, and a kept first or last letter narrows it further. Research on PDF redaction has shown that even the width of a redaction can help narrow down names.
For anything sensitive, use Text or Numbered labels, which show neither the length nor any of the letters.
Common mistakes when censoring text
Part of another word gets censored
A short word is hidden inside longer, harmless words. For example, censoring ass would also change class and assess when matching is by plain substring, and the result looks broken.
💡 See the solution▼
A name or detail is still visible
A format such as Email removed the address, but the name next to it, or a different spelling of the same name, is still there. Formats only find shapes.
💡 See the solution▼
The mask gives away the answer
A same-length mask, or a kept first letter, shows how long a name is and how it starts. Someone who knows the context can often guess the rest.
💡 See the solution▼
Black bars in a document are not real redaction
Covering text with a black box in a PDF or a word processor hides it on screen, but the text can stay in the file and be copied.
💡 See the solution▼
Text censor and redactor FAQ
Q.How do I censor words in a text online?
A. Paste your text, type the words to hide into Words to censor (separate them with commas or new lines), and pick what to replace them with. The result updates as you type, and every replaced part is highlighted. Click Copy result to take the censored text with you.
Q.How do I redact emails, phone numbers, and card numbers?
A. Under Find by format, click Email, Phone, Card number, or any other format you need. The tool finds text that has that shape, such as [email protected], (555) 123-4567 for US-style phone numbers, or 13 to 19 digits that may be separated by spaces or dashes. A format finds shapes only. It does not find names or street addresses, so add those as words and read the result before you share it.
Q.What does Whole words only do?
A. With it on, a word is censored only when it stands alone. Censoring ass will leave class and assess alone. This avoids the Scunthorpe problem, where simple filters wrongly block words that contain a blocked string, after a 1996 AOL filter stopped residents of Scunthorpe from creating accounts. Turn it off when you want to catch the string inside longer words, for example a username fragment.
Q.How do I keep the first letter or the last four digits?
A. Choose Mask (same length), then set Keep first or Keep last. Keep first 1 turns Jane into J***, and Keep last 4 turns a card number into •••• •••• •••• 1111 when the symbol is a bullet. Spaces and punctuation stay in place unless you turn that option off. If the kept characters would cover the whole match, it is masked completely.
Q.What are numbered labels for?
A. They replace each distinct text with a label and a number, such as [PERSON 1] and [PERSON 2], and the same text always gets the same number. That keeps a conversation readable while the names are gone, which helps when you anonymize interview notes or support logs. Formats use their own labels, such as [EMAIL 1] and [PHONE 1].
Q.Is a black bar made of █ characters real redaction?
A. In this tool, yes for the text you copy: the original words are replaced, so they are not in the result. What is not safe is drawing a black box over text in a PDF or a word processor, because the text underneath can stay in the file and be copied. Keep your original text separate, and paste the censored result into a new document.
Q.Can it censor profanity automatically?
A. There is no built-in word list. You enter the words you want hidden, which keeps the result under your control and avoids guesses about what counts as profanity. Add each spelling and form you want covered, since the tool matches the words you type.
Q.What does Break up letters do, and does it hide a name from search?
A. It puts a separator between the letters of each match, so Jane becomes J.a.n.e, or swaps some letters for digits, so Jane becomes J4n3. People can still read it, and a plain search for the original word no longer matches it. It is a courtesy measure, not a guarantee that a name will not be found.
Q.Can I use regular expressions?
A. Yes. Open Advanced: regular expressions and enter one JavaScript pattern per line. Ignore upper and lower case applies to them, and Whole words only does not. A pattern that cannot be read is listed with its error, so a typo does not silently skip a match.
Q.Is my text uploaded?
A. No. The matching and replacing run as JavaScript in your browser, and the tool has no upload step. Your text is held only in the page while it is open.
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