Getting Data In

Filtering results from inputlookup by date/time

EricLloyd79
Builder

I have searched for hours on this and can't seem to find a way to do it. I have a .csv file being read in with inputlookup and the first column is _time... I want to be able to run a query that includes grabbing the file with inputlookup and then filtering the results based on a specific date range. I have tried piping earliest/latest afterwards, using gentimes, making the inputlookup into a subsearch and trying to do the earliest/latest search beforehand... alas, I keep coming up short. The closest I can get is the solution found here: http://answers.splunk.com/answers/11194/time-based-inputookup?sort=oldest

But I dont want to have to write the query using unix timestamp defined date rangees (ie. now() -9000) but instead using dates.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Eric

0 Karma
1 Solution

aelliott
Motivator

did you attempt to do a strptime on the field |inputlookup myFile.csv | eval mytime=strptime(_time,formatoftime)

http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.0.1/SearchReference/Commontimeformatvariables

This way you can then use "mytime" as regular date/times.

View solution in original post

aelliott
Motivator

did you attempt to do a strptime on the field |inputlookup myFile.csv | eval mytime=strptime(_time,formatoftime)

http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.0.1/SearchReference/Commontimeformatvariables

This way you can then use "mytime" as regular date/times.

EricLloyd79
Builder

Thanks man, with your hint I was able to figure it out. Its ugly but it works. Any suggestion on how it could be improved would be welcomed.

| inputlookup indextest_sourcetype.csv | eval early="2/10/2014" | eval late="2/12/2014" | eval myearlytime=strptime(early, "%m/%d/%Y") | eval mylatetime=strptime(late, "%m/%d/%Y") | where _time >= myearlytime AND _time <= mylatetime

0 Karma

EricLloyd79
Builder

I have thought about this and tried it but not the way you presented it. Im pondering how to further filter the results with the new mytime variable.

| inputlookup indextest_sourcetype.csv | eval mytime=strptime(_time, "%m/%d/%Y") | where mytime ... or can I add a search here? My preference ultimately would be to be able to use the earliest/latest relational date pickers.. Ill keep experimenting

0 Karma
Got questions? Get answers!

Join the Splunk Community Slack to learn, troubleshoot, and make connections with fellow Splunk practitioners in real time!

Meet up IRL or virtually!

Join Splunk User Groups to connect and learn in-person by region or remotely by topic or industry.

Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Introducing ITSI 5.0: Unified Visibility and Actionable Insights

Introducing ITSI 5.0: Unified Visibility and Actionable Insights Tuesday, July 21, 2026  |  10:00AM PT / ...

Inside Splunk Agent Observability: Understanding Agent Behavior, Tokens & Costs

Inside Splunk Agent Observability:Understanding Agent Behavior, Tokens & Costs Thursday, August 06, ...

From Data to Insight: Announcing the Winners of the Splunk Dashboard Contest

Hi Splunkers, First off, thank you to everyone who participated in our very first From Data to Insight: The ...