Splunk® Style Guide

Splunk Style Guide

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The guidelines in the Splunk Style Guide establish best practices for writing technical documentation. Search docs.splunk.com to find documentation related to Splunk products.
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Acronyms

Always spell out a full term at first use on every page before you refer to it as an acronym or initialism. Add the acronym or initialism in parentheses after the full name.

Do this Don't do this
Use the Splunk Search Processing Language (SPL) to search your data. Use SPL (the Splunk Search Processing Language) to search your data.

Capitalizing acronyms

Capitalize all letters in an acronym or initialism, including file name extensions and file types that you use as adjectives. Don't use periods with acronyms or initialisms when they stand alone in text.

Do this Don't do this
CSV file c.s.v. file
HTTP protocol http protocol
JSON file json file
Upload the docs.pdf attachment. Upload the docs.PDF attachment.

See more examples in File name extensions and File types in the Usage dictionary.

Match acronyms to its spelled-out version

Don't use an acronym or initialism if it doesn't closely match the words it refers to.

Do this Don't do this
Use a tool like Volume Shadow Copy Services. Use a tool like Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS).

Common acronyms

Consider your audience's level of understanding and use your best judgment for commonly accepted abbreviations, such as REST and API.

Third-party acronyms

See Referring to third-party companies and products for information on using third-party acronyms and initialism.

Abbreviating time and measurements

See Dates and Time for date and time abbreviations and Measurements for abbreviating rates of measurement.

Last modified on 31 January, 2024
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This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® Style Guide: current


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