Splunk Search

Unable to mask data using Regex

bdalsania_splun
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

I'm testing the data-mask feature by anonymizing the numbers in the brackets: splunk[9085] but it's not working
Is my regex expression incorrect? (generated using an online tool - https://regex101.com/)
Guide: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.1.4/Data/Anonymizedatausingconfigurationfiles

Sample Log:
Aug 12 09:22:00 forwarder splunk[9085]: #011Checking default conf files for edits...

Forwarder configurations:

props.conf:
[linux_logs]
TRANSFORMS-anonymize = dhclient-anonymizer

transforms.conf:
[dhclient-anonymizer]
REGEX = splunk\[(\d+)\]
FORMAT = $1splunk[####]$2
DEST_KEY = _raw

Tags (2)
0 Karma
1 Solution

dpeukert
Explorer

First of all you are using $1 and $2 in FORMAT. Every $n represents exactly one capture group in your REGEX. So in your FORMAT you use one capture group more than in your REGEX. That can't work obviously. You don't want to capture what you want to change. You want to capture what you want to keep. So what you probably want to do is using something like this.

REGEX = (.*splunk\[)\d+(\].*)
FORMAT = $1####$2

I tested it and it worked.

View solution in original post

0 Karma

dpeukert
Explorer

First of all you are using $1 and $2 in FORMAT. Every $n represents exactly one capture group in your REGEX. So in your FORMAT you use one capture group more than in your REGEX. That can't work obviously. You don't want to capture what you want to change. You want to capture what you want to keep. So what you probably want to do is using something like this.

REGEX = (.*splunk\[)\d+(\].*)
FORMAT = $1####$2

I tested it and it worked.

0 Karma
Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Splunk Observability for AI

Don’t miss out on an exciting Tech Talk on Splunk Observability for AI!Discover how Splunk’s agentic AI ...

🔐 Trust at Every Hop: How mTLS in Splunk Enterprise 10.0 Makes Security Simpler

From Idea to Implementation: Why Splunk Built mTLS into Splunk Enterprise 10.0  mTLS wasn’t just a checkbox ...

Observe and Secure All Apps with Splunk

  Join Us for Our Next Tech Talk: Observe and Secure All Apps with SplunkAs organizations continue to innovate ...