About the CLI
You can use the Splunk Enterprise command line interface (CLI) to monitor, configure, and run searches and other tasks. The CLI help exists in the product and is accessible through a terminal window or command or shell prompt. Read this topic to learn how to access the CLI.
Access the CLI
The Splunk Enterprise CLI is located in the $SPLUNK_HOME/bin
directory of the Splunk Enterprise installation. On Windows machines, the CLI appears in the %SPLUNK_HOME%\bin
directory.
You can find the Splunk Enterprise installation path on your instance through Splunk Web by clicking Settings > Server settings > General settings.
To access the Splunk Enterprise CLI, you must have:
- A shell prompt, command prompt, or PowerShell session
- Access to a Splunk platform instance or forwarder, or
- Permission to access the correct port on a remote Splunk Enterprise instance.
CLI help documentation
If you have administrator privileges, you can use the CLI not only to search but also to configure and monitor your Splunk Enterprise instance or instances. The CLI commands that configure and monitor Splunk are not search commands. Search commands are arguments to the search
and dispatch
CLI commands. Some commands require that you authenticate with a username and password or specify a target Splunk server.
You can look up help information for the CLI using:
UNIX | Windows | |
---|---|---|
./splunk help |
.\splunk help |
For more information about how to access help for specific CLI commands or tasks, see "Get help with the CLI" and "Administrative CLI commands" in this manual.
Work with the CLI on *nix
If you have administrator or root privileges, you can simplify CLI access by adding the top level directory of your Splunk Enterprise installation, $SPLUNK_HOME/bin
, to your shell path. If you installed Splunk Enterprise in a different directory, specify that directory in the following commands.
This example works for Linux/BSD/Solaris users who installed Splunk Enterprise in the default location:
# export SPLUNK_HOME=/opt/splunk # export PATH=$SPLUNK_HOME/bin:$PATH
This example works for Mac users who installed Splunk Enterprise in the default location:
# export SPLUNK_HOME=/Applications/Splunk # export PATH=$SPLUNK_HOME/bin:$PATH
Now you can invoke CLI commands using:
splunk <command>
To set the $SPLUNK_HOME
environment variable while working in a CLI session:
- In *nix:
source /opt/splunk/bin/setSplunkEnv
- In Windows:
splunk.exe envvars > setSplunkEnv.bat & setSplunkEnv.bat
Splunk CLI skips password prompting for *nix users with access to the /home directory
On a *nix machine, if a *nix user that runs the Splunk CLI has access to the /home directory on that machine, the CLI does not prompt for the Splunk user password.
Mac OS X requires elevated privileges to access system files or directories
Mac OS X requires superuser level access to run any command that accesses system files or directories. Run CLI commands using sudo or "su -" for a new shell as root. The recommended method is to use sudo. (By default the user "root" is not enabled but any administrator user can use sudo.)
Work with the CLI on Windows
To run CLI commands in Splunk Enterprise on Windows, use PowerShell or the command prompt as an administrator.
- Open a PowerShell window or command prompt as an administrator.
- Change to the Splunk Enterprise
bin
directory. - Run a Splunk command by typing in
splunk
followed by the subcommand and any required arguments.
C:\Program Files\Splunk\bin> splunk status splunkd is running. splunk helpers are running.
You can run many commands and perform many tasks from the Splunk Enterprise CLI. For help on using the CLI, see Get help with the CLI.
Set Splunk environment variables on Windows
You do not need to set Splunk environment variables to use the CLI on Windows. If you want to use variables to run CLI commands, you must set variables manually.
Set temporary variables on the command prompt
- Open a PowerShell window, or a command prompt.
- Use a Powershell variable or environment variable to set a quick reference path to Splunk Enterprise.
PowerShell Command prompt $splunk_home="C:\Program Files\Splunk"
set SPLUNK_HOME="C:\Program Files\Splunk"
- Call the variable when running Splunk Enterprise CLI commands.
PowerShell Command prompt & $splunk_home\bin\splunk status
%SPLUNK_HOME%\bin\splunk status
Set permanent environment variables
To set a permanent variable, see Add or change environment variables on MS TechNet.
Answers
Have questions? Visit Splunk Answers and see what questions and answers the Splunk community has about using the CLI.
Check the integrity of your Splunk software files | Get help with the CLI |
This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® Enterprise: 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.1.3, 7.1.4, 7.1.5, 7.1.6, 7.1.7, 7.1.8, 7.1.9, 7.1.10, 7.2.0, 7.2.1, 7.2.2, 7.2.3, 7.2.4, 7.2.5, 7.2.6, 7.2.7, 7.2.8, 7.2.9, 7.2.10, 7.3.0, 7.3.1, 7.3.2, 7.3.3, 7.3.4, 7.3.5, 7.3.6, 7.3.7, 7.3.8, 7.3.9, 8.0.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2, 8.0.3, 8.0.4, 8.0.5, 8.0.6, 8.0.7, 8.0.8, 8.0.9, 8.0.10, 8.1.0, 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 8.1.3, 8.1.4, 8.1.5, 8.1.6, 8.1.7, 8.1.8, 8.1.9, 8.1.10, 8.1.11, 8.1.12, 8.1.13, 8.1.14, 8.2.0, 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3, 8.2.4, 8.2.5, 8.2.6, 8.2.7, 8.2.8, 8.2.9, 8.2.10, 8.2.11, 8.2.12, 9.0.0, 9.0.1, 9.0.2, 9.0.3, 9.0.4, 9.0.5, 9.0.6, 9.0.7, 9.0.8, 9.0.9, 9.0.10, 9.1.0, 9.1.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.3, 9.1.4, 9.1.5, 9.1.6, 9.2.0, 9.2.1, 9.2.2, 9.2.3, 9.3.0, 9.3.1
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