Splunk® Enterprise

Search Reference

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Command types

There are four broad types for all of the search commands: distributable streaming, centralized streaming, transforming, generating. These types are not mutually exclusive. A command might be streaming or transforming, and also a generating command.

The following tables list the commands that fit into each of these types. For detailed explanations about each of the types, see Types of commands in the Search Manual.

Streaming commands

A streaming command operates on each event as the event is returned by a search.

  • A distributable streaming command runs on the indexer or the search head, depending on where in the search the command is invoked. Distributable streaming commands can be applied to subsets of indexed data in a parallel manner.
  • A centralized streaming command applies a transformation to each event returned by a search. Unlike distributable streaming commands, a centralized streaming command only works on the search head.


Command Notes
addinfo Distributable streaming
anomalydetection
append
arules
autoregress Centralized streaming.
bin Streaming if specified with the span argument.
bucketdir
cluster Streaming in some modes.
convert Distributable streaming.
dedup Streaming in some modes.
eval Distributable streaming.
extract Distributable streaming.
fieldformat Distributable streaming.
fields Distributable streaming.
fillnull Distributable streaming when no field-list is specified. When field-list is specified, the fillnull command fits into the Other type.
head Centralized streaming.
highlight Distributable streaming.
iconify Distributable streaming.
iplocation Distributable streaming.
join Centralized streaming, as long as there is a defined set of fields to join to.
lookup Distributable streaming when specified with local=false
makemv Distributable streaming.
multikv Distributable streaming.
mvexpand Distributable streaming.
nomv Distributable streaming.
rangemap Distributable streaming.
regex Distributable streaming.
reltime Distributable streaming.
rename Distributable streaming.
replace Distributed streaming.
rex Distributable streaming.
search Distributable streaming if used further down the search pipeline. Generating when the first command in the search.
spath Distributable streaming.
strcat Distributable streaming.
streamstats Centralized streaming.
tags Distributable streaming.
transaction Centralized streaming.
typer Distributable streaming.
where Distributable streaming.
untable Distributable streaming.
xmlkv Distributable streaming.
xmlunescape
xpath Distributable streaming.
xyseries Distributable streaming if the argument grouped=false in specified. Otherwise Transforming.

Generating commands

A generating command generates events or reports from one or more indexes without transforming the events.

Command Notes
datamodel Report-generating
dbinspect Report-generating.
eventcount Report-generating.
from Can be either report-generating or event-generating depending on the search or knowledge object that is referenced by the command.
gentimes
inputcsv Event-generating (centralized).
Inputlookup Event-generating (centralized) when append=false, which is the default.
loadjob Event-generating (centralized).
makeresults Report-generating.
metadata Report-generating. Although metadata fetches data from all peers, any command run after it runs only on the search head.
mstats Report-generating.
multisearch Event-generating.
pivot Report-generating.
search Event-generating (distributable) when the first command in the search, which is the default. Distributable streaming if used as a subsearch.
searchtxn Event-generating.
set Event-generating.
tstats Report-generating (distributable) when prestats=true. When prestats=false, tstats is event-generating.

Transforming commands

A transforming command orders the results into a data table. The command "transforms" the specified cell values for each event into numerical values for statistical purposes.

In earlier versions of Splunk software, transforming commands were referred to as reporting commands.

Command Notes
addtotals Transforming when used to calculate column totals (not row totals).
chart
cofilter
contingency
history
makecontinuous
mvcombine
rare
stats
table
timechart
top
xyseries Transforming if grouped=true, otherwise distributable streaming.

Other commands

There are a handful of commands that do not fit into these types. Some commands fit into the types only in specific situations.

The following commands are not transforming, not distributable, not streaming, and not orchestrating: sort, eventstats, and some modes of cluster, dedup, and fillnull.

Last modified on 01 November, 2018
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This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® Enterprise: 7.0.0, 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.0.4, 7.0.5, 7.0.6, 7.0.7, 7.0.8, 7.0.9, 7.0.10, 7.0.11, 7.0.13


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