Splunk Search

field extraction for error message

Hema_Nithya
Explorer

I want to extract the  following information make it as a field as "error message" .

index=os source="/var/log/syslog" "*authentication failure*" OR "Generic preauthentication failure"

Events example :

Nov 28 01:02:31 server1 sssd[ldap_child[12010]]: Failed to initialize credentials using keytab [MEMORY:/etc/krb5.keytab]: Generic preauthentication failure. Unable to create GSSAPI-encrypted LDAP connection.

Nov 28 01:02:29 server2  proxy_child[1939385]: pam_unix(system-auth-ac:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=10.177.46.57 user=hippm

Labels (1)
0 Karma

bowesmana
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

What defines the start and end of the error text in each of those examples and how much of that do you want to get in error_message

You could very simply do this

| rex "\]:\s(?<error_message>.*)"

which would take everything after the ]: to the end of the event

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!

Painting a Clearer Picture: Creating Cross-Domain Visibility with AI Canvas

    Thursday, June 25, 2026  |  11AM PDT / 2PM EDT  Duration: 1 Hour (Includes live Q&A) Register to ...

Analytics Workspace deprecation

As of Splunk Cloud Platform 10.4.2604 and Splunk Enterprise 10.4, Analytics Workspace is now deprecated. ...

Splunk Developer Day Recap: Building, Publishing, and Growing on the Splunk Platform

Splunk Developer Day brought the Splunk developer community together for a practical look at what it means to ...