Removing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) with LlamaIndex: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the process of removing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from text using the LlamaIndex module in Python. If you’re encountering an ImportError when trying to use the LlamaIndex class, this guide will help you troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

Step 1: Install the LlamaIndex Module

Before we begin, make sure you have the llama_index module installed. Open your terminal or command prompt and enter the following command:

pip install llama_index


This command installs the necessary module in your Python environment

Step 2: Import LlamaIndex and Create the Redaction Function

Now, let’s import the LlamaIndex class and create a function that utilizes it for redacting PII. Open your Python script or Jupyter Notebook and add the following code:

from llama_index import LlamaIndex

def remove_pii(text):
    # Step 3: Create an instance of LlamaIndex
    llama = LlamaIndex()

    # Step 4: Use the redact method to remove PII
    redacted_text = llama.redact(text)

    # Step 5: Return the redacted text
    return redacted_text

Step 3: Run the Redaction Function

Now that we have our remove_pii function, let’s test it with some sample text. Add the following code to your script:

sample_text = "This is a sample text with PII like [email protected] and 123-45-6789."

# Call the remove_pii function
result = remove_pii(sample_text)

# Print the redacted text
print(result)

Run your script or notebook to see the PII removed from the sample text.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve successfully removed PII from text using the LlamaIndex module. If you encountered any issues during the process, refer to the troubleshooting steps in this tutorial to identify and resolve them.

Feel free to customize the remove_pii function for your specific use case and explore additional features provided by the LlamaIndex module.