Splunk Search

How to control the number of top results shown from a search in Splunk 6.1.2?

HattrickNZ
Motivator

I am trying to control how many of the top results are shown.

I have the following search

stats max(c1693801001) as MaxCPU by measObjLdn | sort - MaxCPU

which gives me the following in the stats view:

measObjLdn  MaxCPU
Object1 13
Object2 11
Object3 8
Object4 7
Object5 4
Object6 4
Object7 3
Object8 3

How do i just show the top 3 that would look like

measObjLdn  MaxCPU
Object1 13
Object2 11
Object3 8

I have tried top but no joy, it just keeps showing them all
....| top limit=5 showcount=f showperc=f MaxCPU by measObjLdn | sort - MaxCPU

Tags (3)
0 Karma
1 Solution

musskopf
Builder

Just change to:

stats max(c1693801001) as MaxCPU by measObjLdn | sort 3 - MaxCPU

View solution in original post

ramdaspr
Contributor

That is because you have a by clause so it is showing you the top 5 MaxCPU for each measObjLdn. You should be using head 3 after sorting to find out the top 3 values regardless of the combination.

musskopf
Builder

Just change to:

stats max(c1693801001) as MaxCPU by measObjLdn | sort 3 - MaxCPU

ramdaspr
Contributor

++ simpler solution.

When i read the docs, it says "Specify the number of results to sort. " so I assumed only the first 3 events would be used but it should says "Specify the number of sorted results to return" instead.

0 Karma

HattrickNZ
Motivator

tks all, the one below by ramdaspr works also.

Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

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 ...

Data Management Digest – November 2025

  Welcome to the inaugural edition of Data Management Digest! As your trusted partner in data innovation, the ...

Splunk Mobile: Your Brand-New Home Screen

Meet Your New Mobile Hub  Hello Splunk Community!  Staying connected to your data—no matter where you are—is ...