Splunk Search

rex not working as expected

HattrickNZ
Motivator

What is wrong with this rex?? This is the rex that the system gives me when I do a extract fields option.

index=x ... | rex "^(?:[^"\n]*"){3}(?P<index_ks>[^"]+)"
I am getting
Mismatched ']'. when I do the search.

This is the regex working here
https://regex101.com/r/LxVFbf/1

Another way to write it is like this, although not as generic:
index=* | rex "index="(?P<index_ks>.*)";"
which works see here:
https://regex101.com/r/YCn7h6/1

However, the result single quotes at start and end e.g. 'result1' 'result2' in Splunk, but not in the regex101 example.

Would like to understand this better.

Tags (2)
0 Karma
1 Solution

HiroshiSatoh
Champion

It is necessary to escape double quotes.

ex.
| rex "^(?:[^\"\n]*\"){3}(?P[^\"]+)"

View solution in original post

youngso
SplunkTrust
SplunkTrust

Here is the search with rex. I am lost why it's not working to exact the user.

index=ldap sourcetype="ldap:audit" 
| rex "\s\w{2}=\w\d(?<user>[^,]+)" 
| stats count by user

Here is the event string:

time: 20200423225406
result: 0
changetype: modify
replace: lastLoginTime
lastLoginTime: 20200423225402Z
modifiersName: cn=g5-bdent,ou=srveauth,dc=june,dc=gov

0 Karma

gokadroid
Motivator

Your spl line of rex is getting interpreted as below which is making it see it as a misplaced quote after two pairs of quotes:
index=x ... | rex "^(?:[^" \n]* "){3}(?P<index_ks>[^" ]+)"

Like @HiroshiSatoh mentioned the quotes shall be escaped like \" to make it as index=x ... | rex "^(?:[^\"\n]*\"){3}(?P<index_ks>[^\"]+)" if you feel your regex is working fine on regex101.

HiroshiSatoh
Champion

It is necessary to escape double quotes.

ex.
| rex "^(?:[^\"\n]*\"){3}(?P[^\"]+)"

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!

Your Feedback. Our Roadmap. Visit the PX Feedback Booth at .conf26

You use Splunk every day, come and help shape what's next.  Save Your Seat: Product-Focused Sessions at ...

Agentic SOC Triage: Investigating Splunk ES Notables with MCP Server and a Local LLM

The Problem: Too Many Alerts, Too Little Context Security operations teams running Splunk Enterprise Security ...

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

Watch Now Painting a Clearer Picture: Creating Cross-Domain Visibility with AI Canvas     Do you ever feel ...