topic Re: Eval Error In Search Statement in Splunk Search

Eval Error In Search Statement

johnboldt — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:36:23 GMT

I'm receiving the following error message on a search: Error in 'eval' command: Failed to parse the provided arguments. Usage: eval dest_key = expression

The expression is a search macro that takes a string parameter and returns a message based on a regex match using a case statement which uses the match function.

This statement was working at one point, and then I started getting the error. Any ideas?

Re: Eval Error In Search Statement

southeringtonp — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:32:58 GMT

Posting the actual search would go a long way toward getting a useful answer. Please edit your question above to provide more detail.

Re: Eval Error In Search Statement

sideview — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 05:51:06 GMT

Agreed with southeringtonp - please post the search and also the macros it uses.

Re: Eval Error In Search Statement

johnboldt — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:24:28 GMT

Here's the search:

sourcetype="SRCTYPE" hoursago=1 | `InetServiceCallsSearch` | eval Metric=`ExtractFriendlyMetricName(Message)` | eval SLA=`GetActivitySLA(Message)` | stats count as "Count", avg(elapsedTime) as "Average", p95(elapsedTime) as "95th Percentile", max(SLA) as "SLA" by Metric

The eval that's blowing up is GetActivitySLA, listed below:

case (
match($message$, "Some Message", 500,
match($message$, "Another Message:"), 500, 
match($message$, "Yet Another Message:"), 500
)

If I extract the macro body and place it directly into the search it works fine:

eval SLA=case (...)

Re: Eval Error In Search Statement

johnboldt — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:28:11 GMT

Also, the "ExtractFriendlyMetricName" listed above is a similar case statement and it works fine.

Re: Eval Error In Search Statement

woodcock — Wed, 27 May 2015 05:15:27 GMT

You are missing an end/right-parenthesis ")" that I highlight in red:

case (
match($message$, "Some Message" ), 500,
match($message$, "Another Message:"), 500,
match($message$, "Yet Another Message:"), 500
)

Re: Eval Error In Search Statement

woodcock — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 14:52:38 GMT

If this was the problem, do click "Accept" on the answer to close it.