topic Re: Top syntax to display null fields when using 'by'? in Splunk Search

Top syntax to display null fields when using 'by'?

Tisiphone_1 — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 01:52:06 GMT

When I use 'top' to create a top n list of fields, and I add two fields, using by, so:

top field1 by field2

if either field is not present in a result, it does not display in the list. I want to display events in my results even the secondary field is null. Is there any way to do this?

For example:

top infected person by infection

Even if I don't know what infection it is, I still want them to show up on the list of infected people, and I still want to see the infection if it is available.

Re: Top syntax to display null fields when using 'by'?

Stephen_Sorkin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:27:45 GMT

The best way to do this is to use the fillnull command to make the desired fields dense. In this case, you could try:

... | fillnull value=NULL person infection | top person by infection

Re: Top syntax to display null fields when using 'by'?

Tisiphone_1 — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:29:59 GMT

Thanks a ton, Stephen!