Getting Data In

host_regex problem

a212830
Champion

Hi,

I'm trying to parse the host from my logfile name, using host_regex, but it's not matching, and I'm unsure why.

My host_regex setting is: host_regex = \system-(.+).log$

My files are in the format /apps/logs/YYYY/MM/DD/system-HOSTNAME.log

The hostname can be anything - underscores, dashes, numbers, letters, uppercase, lowercase.... About the only two things that I would exclude would be spaces and special characters.

For example:

/apps/logs/2014/07/02/system-ltmblahqa02.log
/apps/logs/2014/07/02/system-ltmrEHH01-old.log
/apps/logs/2014/07/02/system-sD-9k-99sum.log

Tags (2)
0 Karma

martin_mueller
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Do post your entire inputs.conf stanza.

0 Karma

richgalloway
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

I think your host_regex string is only missing a backslash to escape the '.log'. This worked for me in RegExr:

system-(?<hostname>[\S]+)\.
---
If this reply helps you, Karma would be appreciated.
0 Karma

richgalloway
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Thanks for setting me straight.

---
If this reply helps you, Karma would be appreciated.
0 Karma

martin_mueller
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

I hate to again nag about backslashes and dots, but in that case you'd need a backslash before the dot... else the no-spaces would match all the way to ".lo", and the dot would match the "g" 😛

I don't think the expression in and of itself is the issue. a\d+, do post your entire inputs.conf stanza.

0 Karma

richgalloway
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

If by "that" you mean martin_mueller's screen shot, don't worry about it. He's showing I was incorrect about the need to escape periods.
Put 'system-([\S]+).' as your host_regex string. I've had better luck when I avoid matching on '.'.

---
If this reply helps you, Karma would be appreciated.
0 Karma

a212830
Champion

How would you put that in the inputs.conf? Am I missing something?

0 Karma

martin_mueller
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

The backslash shouldn't fix things, only disallow examples like this:

/apps/logs/2014/07/02/system-ltmblahqa02_log

Works for me with or without the backslash:

alt text

Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Index This | Why did the turkey cross the road?

November 2025 Edition  Hayyy Splunk Education Enthusiasts and the Eternally Curious!   We’re back with this ...

Enter the Agentic Era with Splunk AI Assistant for SPL 1.4

  &#x1f680; Your data just got a serious AI upgrade — are you ready? Say hello to the Agentic Era with the ...

Feel the Splunk Love: Real Stories from Real Customers

Hello Splunk Community,    What’s the best part of hearing how our customers use Splunk? Easy: the positive ...