Splunk Search

Why am I getting blank rows extracting a multi line XML file with xmlkv and regex?

andyhine
New Member

I am trying to extract a multi line XML file with many
<title>blah</title> elements.

Using
sourcetype="schedule" | rex field=_raw "\<title\>(?<title>.*?)\</title\>" | table title
or
sourcetype="schedule" | xmlkv title | table title

I get many blank rows. The data does not have any elements.

Using | fields title instead of | table title does not give any empty data as far as I can tell.

Thanks

0 Karma

andyhine
New Member

Thanks that didn't seem to make any difference to my blank rows.

0 Karma

somesoni2
Revered Legend

Just try this

sourcetype="schedule" | xmlkv | table title

OR 

sourcetype="schedule"|  rex field=_raw "\<title\>(?<title>(.*(\n)*)*)\</title\>" | table title
0 Karma

sk314
Builder

It could be that there are events without the xml entries. You could try piping this to remove null values.

|search title!=NULL | table title

0 Karma

andyhine
New Member

Thanks

Trying

sourcetype="schedule" | xmlkv | table title

and

sourcetype="schedule"| rex field=_raw "\<title\>(?<title>(.*(\n)*)*)\</title\>" | table title

I get a blank table of results but clicking to sort by title get other results.

How can I filter out all these blank rows (and where are they coming from!?)

0 Karma

sk314
Builder

Instead of rex, you could add the following entry to your props.conf file under "schedule" sourcetype:
kv_mode = xml

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!

May 2026 Splunk Expert Sessions: Security & Observability

Level Up Your Operations: May 2026 Splunk Expert Sessions Whether you are refining your security posture or ...

Network to App: Observability Unlocked [May & June Series]

In today’s digital landscape, your environment is no longer confined to the data center. It spans complex ...

SPL2 Deep Dives, AppDynamics Integrations, SAML Made Simple and Much More on Splunk ...

Splunk Lantern is Splunk’s customer success center that provides practical guidance from Splunk experts on key ...