The following search code assumes that you are entering $targettime$ in epoch time format. It selects the time range within 1/2 hour of the target time value, calculates the difference from target time, and returns the five closest events. earliest=$targettime$-30m@m latest=$targettime$+30m@m "search text" | eval DeltaTime = abs(_time - $targettime$) | sort 0 Deltatime | head 5 edited to use sort 0 rather than sort, just in case more than 100 results were received. ... View more