Splunk Search

What is the best way to match arbitrary fields in inputlookup

yuanliu
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

With events, I can do

 

 

 

| search index=foo *bar*

 

 

 

This will match any event containing the string "bar" regardless where it appears.  But with |inputlookup, this will not work.

I can work around it using foreacch.  But it looks rather labored.

 

 

 

| inputlookup mylookup
| foreach * 
    [| search <<FIELD>>=*bar*]

 

 

 

Is this the best way?

Labels (2)
0 Karma
1 Solution

gcusello
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Hi @yuanliu,

it runs on indexes because you have the _raw field and when you run a full text search it's the same thing that you run "_raw=*bar*", but in a lookup you don't have the _raw so it doesn't run.

If you want to search a word in all the fields of your lookup, you have to recreate the _raw:

| inputlookup mylookup
| eval _raw=field 1." ".field2." ".field3." ".field4
| search _raw="*bar*"

maybe it's easier to use a summary index instead of a lookup.

Ciao.

Giuseppe

View solution in original post

gcusello
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Hi @yuanliu,

it runs on indexes because you have the _raw field and when you run a full text search it's the same thing that you run "_raw=*bar*", but in a lookup you don't have the _raw so it doesn't run.

If you want to search a word in all the fields of your lookup, you have to recreate the _raw:

| inputlookup mylookup
| eval _raw=field 1." ".field2." ".field3." ".field4
| search _raw="*bar*"

maybe it's easier to use a summary index instead of a lookup.

Ciao.

Giuseppe

yuanliu
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Thanks for the suggestion!  My lookup changes so infrequently (and is not super large) that it is perhaps not worth the summary.  But it is definitely a path for more intense use cases.

0 Karma

m_pham
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

You just do this:

 

| inputlookup my_lookup
| search field=*value*

 

0 Karma

yuanliu
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

@m_pham Yes, I can search any individual field.  Usually lookups would not contain freehand text in more than one field.  This peculiar one has several freehand fields that I want to give a lazy search option.

The foreach method in my OP does the job.  But it feels silly to use heavy artillery for what looks really simple when _raw exists.

0 Karma
Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Index This | What’s a riddle wrapped in an enigma?

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

BORE at .conf25

Boss Of Regular Expression (BORE) was an interactive session run again this year at .conf25 by the brilliant ...

OpenTelemetry for Legacy Apps? Yes, You Can!

This article is a follow-up to my previous article posted on the OpenTelemetry Blog, "Your Critical Legacy App ...