Time modifiers for search

Time modifiers for search

You can use time modifiers to customize the time range of a search by specifying a time to start or stop, or change the format of the timestamps in the search results.

List of time modifiers

We recommend using the earliest and/or latest modifiers to specify custom and relative time ranges. Also, when specifying relative time, you can use now to refer to the current time.

Modifier	Syntax	Description
earliest	earliest=[+|-]<time_integer><time_unit>@<time_unit>	Specify the earliest time for the time range of your search.
latest	latest=[+|-]<time_integer><time_unit>@<time_unit>	Specify the latest time for the time range of your search.
now	now()	Refers to the current time. If set to earliest, now() is the start of the search.
time	time()	In real-time searches, time() is the current machine time.

For more information about customizing your search window, see "Specify real-time time range windows in your search" in the Search manual.

How to specify relative time modifiers

You can define the relative time in your search with a string of characters that indicate time amount (integer and unit) and, optionally, a "snap to" time unit: [+|-]<time_integer><time_unit>@<time_unit>.

1. Begin your string with a plus (+) or minus (-) to indicate the offset from the current time.

2. Define your time amount with a number and a unit; the supported time units are:

• second: s, sec, secs, second, seconds
• minute: m, min, minute, minutes
• hour: h, hr, hrs, hour, hours
• day: d, day, days
• week: w, week, weeks
• month: mon, month, months
• quarter: q, qtr, qtrs, quarter, quarters
• year: y, yr, yrs, year, years

Note: For Sunday, you can specify w0 and w7.

For example, to start your search an hour ago, use either

or,

When specifying single time amounts, the number one is implied; 's' is the same as '1s', 'm' is the same as '1m', 'h' is the same as '1h', etc.

3. If you want, specify a "snap to" time unit; this indicates the nearest or latest time to which your time amount rounds down. Separate the time amount from the "snap to" time unit with an "@" character.

• You can use any of time units listed in Step 2. For example, @w, @week, and @w0 for Sunday; @month for the beginning of the month; and @q, @qtr, or @quarter for the beginning of the most recent quarter (Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, or Oct 1). You can use the following for specific days of the week: w0 (Sunday), w1, w2, w3, w4, w5 and w6 (Saturday).
• You can also specify offsets from the snap-to-time or "chain" together the time modifiers for more specific relative time definitions. For example, @d-2h snaps to the beginning of today (12AM) and subtract 2 hours from that time.
• When snapping to the nearest or latest time, Splunk always snaps backwards or rounds down to the latest time not after the specified time. For example, if it is 11:59:00 and you "snap to" hours, you will snap to 11:00 not 12:00.
• If you don't specify a time offset before the "snap to" amount, Splunk interprets the time as "current time snapped to" the specified amount. For example, if it is currently 11:59 PM on Friday and you use @w6 to "snap to Saturday", the resulting time is the previous Saturday at 12:01 AM.

Example 1: To search events from the beginning of the current week:

Example 2: To search events from the last full business week:

Example 3: To search with an exact date as boundary, such as from November 5th at 8PM to Novermber 12 at 8PM, use the timeformat: %m/%d/%Y:%H:%M:%S

More time modifiers

These search time modifiers are still valid, BUT may be removed and their function no longer supported in a future release.

Modifier	Syntax	Description
daysago	daysago=<int>	Search events within the last integer number of days.
enddaysago	enddaysago=<int>	Set an end time for an integer number of days before now.
endhoursago	endhoursago=<int>	Set an end time for an integer number of hours before now.
endminutesago	endminutesago=<int>	Set an end time for an integer number of minutes before now.
endmonthsago	endmonthsago=<int	Set an end time for an integer number of months before now.
endtime	endtime=<string>	Search for events before the specified time (exclusive of the specified time). Use timeformat to specify how the timestamp is formatted.
endtimeu	endtimeu=<int>	Search for events before the specific epoch time (Unix time). .
hoursago	hoursago=<int>	Search events within the last integer number of hours.
minutesago	minutesago=<int>	Search events within the last integer number of minutes.
monthsago	monthsago=<int>	Search events within the last integer number of months.
<searchtimespandays	searchtimespandays=<int>	Search within a specified range of days (expressed as an integer).
searchtimespanhours	searchtimespanhours=<int>	Search within a specified range of hours (expressed as an integer).
searchtimespanminutes	searchtimespanminutes=<int>	Search within a specified range of minutes (expressed as an integer).
searchtimespanmonths	searchtimespanmonths=<int>	Search within a specified range of months (expressed as an integer).
startdaysago	startdaysago=<int>	Search the specified number of days before the present time.
starthoursago	starthoursago=<int>	Search the specified number of hours before the present time.
startminutesago	startminutesago=<int>	Search the specified number of minutes before the present time.
startmonthsago	startmonthsago=<int>	Search the specified number of months before the present time.
starttime	starttime=<timestamp>	Search from the specified date and time to the present (inclusive of the specified time).
starttimeu	starttimeu=<int>	Search from the specific epoch (Unix time).
timeformat	timeformat=<string>	Set the timeformat for the starttime and endtime modifiers. By default: timeformat=%m/%d/%Y:%H:%M:%S

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