Splunk Search

append and max results (50000)

johnnymc
Path Finder

i'm trying to merge results from two searches to join various values from the search field.

i see that the latter search is stuck at 50000 results, whatever or not i append maxout=500000 and maxtime=86400 .

earliest="-w@w+1d" latest="-d@w-1d"  foo | append maxtime=14400 maxout=5000000 [search earliest="-w@w+1d" bar ].

i'm still getting 50000 results only from the bar search.
any clues?
i'd prefer not to modify conf files.

thanks

yannK
Splunk Employee
Splunk Employee

For the append command, you have 2 setting that controls the limit.

You can use maxout to reduce the number of results to append but not to go above the maxresultrows limit.


[searchresults] maxresultrows = 50000
and
index=* | head 100 | append maxout=10000 [ search index=* ]
will return 10100 events

[searchresults] maxresultrows = 50000
and
index=* | head 100 | append maxout=100000000000 [ search index=* ]
will return only 50100 events.

bbingham
Builder

I think you're hitting the hard limit in limits.conf for a join. I don't think there is a way around this without modifying the conf files.

[join]
subsearch_maxout = 50000
subsearch_maxtime = 60
subsearch_timeout = 120

johnnymc
Path Finder

nope. modfying join doesn't work.
it seems it has something to do with:

[searchresults]
* This stanza controls search results for a variety of Splunk search commands.

maxresultrows = <integer>
Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Index This | Why did the turkey cross the road?

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

Enter the Agentic Era with Splunk AI Assistant for SPL 1.4

  &#x1f680; Your data just got a serious AI upgrade — are you ready? Say hello to the Agentic Era with the ...

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 ...