Splunk Search

Subsearch return multiple fields

antb
Path Finder

Hi and thank you in advance. I've simplified the problem for brevity sake.

I'm trying to return multiple fields by way of using a subsearch. Looking for a recent match in index2 where there was an older event occurring in index1.

An example would be detecting an attack with previous reconnaissance.

index=index1 earliest=-5h@h latest=-1h@h dst=* [search index=index2 earliest=-15m latest=now() dest=* | head 1 | eval index2_time=_time | return dst=dest ]

This works, for finding a match. However, I want to pass up the _time of the more recent event in index2 (index2_time) and that doesn't appear to populate.

0 Karma

manjunathmeti
Champion

If index2_time field is part of index1 then check with format. If not, replace field name index2_time with timestamp field in index1 which contains _time values.

index=index1 earliest=-5h@h latest=-1h@h dst=* [ search index=index2 earliest=-15m latest=now() dest=* | head 1 | eval index2_time=_time | fields dest, index2_time | format ]
0 Karma

antb
Path Finder

Hi @manjunathmeti, I reviewed this response (and waited to see if there were others) but not sure I understand. index2_time is just the example I'm using where I bubble up the _time - I could have chose any field. The assignment to index2_time isn't being populated as I can only return a single field.

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!

Make your Splunk investment work harder with Optimization Advisor

Value Insights brings usage evidence and practical recommendations together to help customers make more ...

How Splunk AI Assistant Is Transforming Investigations: Insights from .conf26

At .conf26 in Denver, I spent much of my time in conversation with Splunk customers about Splunk AI Assistant. ...

Make Your Machine Data AI-Ready in Splunk

Every team is getting ready for AI agents.   Thursday, November 12, 2026  |  11AM  PST / 2PM EST   ...