outputlookup
Description
Writes search results to a static lookup table, or KV store collection, that you specify.
Syntax
The required syntax is in bold.
- | outputlookup
- [append=<bool>]
- [create_empty=<bool>]
- [override_if_empty=<bool>]
- [max=<int>]
- [key_field=<field>]
- [createinapp=<bool>]
- [output_format=<string>]
- <filename> | <tablename>
Required arguments
You must specify one of the following required arguments, either filename
or tablename
.
- filename
- Syntax: <string>
- Description: The name of the lookup file. The file must end with
.csv
or.csv.gz
.
- tablename
- Syntax: <string>
- Description: The name of the lookup table as specified by a stanza name in
transforms.conf
. The lookup table can be configured for any lookup type (CSV, external, or KV store).
Optional arguments
- append
- Syntax: append=<bool>
- Description: The default setting,
append=false
, writes the search results to the.csv
file or KV store collection. Columns that are not in the current search results are removed from the file. If set totrue
, attempts to append search results to an existing.csv
file or KV store collection. Otherwise it creates a file. If there is an existing .csv file, theoutputlookup
command writes only the fields that are present in the previously existing.csv
file. Anoutputlookup
search that is run withappend=true
might result in a situation where the lookup table or collection is only partially updated. This means that a subsequentlookup
orinputlookup
search on that lookup table or collection might return stale data along with new data. Theoutputlookup
command cannot append to.gz
files. - Default: false
- create_empty
- Syntax: create_empty=<bool>
- Description: If set to
true
and there are no results, a zero-length file is created. When set tofalse
and there are no results, no file is created. If the file previously existed, the file is deleted.
- For example, suppose there is a system-level lookup called
test
with the lookup defined intest.csv
. There is also an app-level lookup with the same name. If an app overrides thattest.csv
in its own app directory with an empty filecreate_empty=true
, the app-level lookup behaves as if the lookup is empty. However, if there's no file at allcreate_empty=false
at the app level, then the lookup file in the system-level is used. - Default: false
- createinapp
- Syntax: createinapp=<bool>
- Description: If set to
false
, or if there is no current application context, the command creates the file in the system lookups directory. - Default: true
- key_field
- Syntax: key_field=<field>
- Description: For KV store-based lookups, uses the specified field name as the key to a value and replaces that value. An
outputlookup
search using thekey_field
argument might result in a situation where the lookup table or collection is only partially updated. A subsequentlookup
orinputlookup
search on that collection might return stale data along with new data. A partial update only occurs with concurrent searches, one with theoutputlookup
command and a search with theinputlookup
command. It is possible that theinputlookup
occurs when theoutputlookup
is still updating some of the records.
- max
- Syntax: max=<int>
- Description: The number of rows to output.
- Default: no limit
- output_format
- Syntax: output_format=splunk_sv_csv | splunk_mv_csv
- Description: Controls the output data format of the lookup. Use
output_format=splunk_mv_csv
when you want to output multivalued fields to a lookup table file, and then read the fields back into Splunk using theinputlookup
command. The default,splunk_sv_csv
outputs a CSV file which excludes the_mv_<fieldname>
fields. - Default: splunk_sv_csv
- override_if_empty
- Syntax: override_if_empty=<bool>
- Description: If
override_if_empty=true
and no results are passed to the output file, the existing output file is deleted, Ifoverride_if_empty=false
and no results are passed to the output file, the command does not delete the existing output file. - Default: true
Usage
The lookup table must be a CSV or GZ file, or a table name specified with a lookup table configuration in transforms.conf
. The lookup table can refer to a KV store collection or a CSV lookup. The outputlookup command cannot be used with external lookups.
For CSV lookups, if the lookup file does not exist, it is created in the lookups directory of the current application. If the lookup file already exists, it is overwritten with the results of the outputlookup
command. If the createinapp
option is set to false
or if there is no current application context, then the file is created in the system lookups directory.
For permissions in CSV lookups, use the check_permission
field in transforms.conf
and outputlookup_check_permission
in limits.conf
to restrict write access to users with the appropriate permissions when using the outputlookup
command. Both check_permission
and outputlookup_check_permission
default to false. Set to true for Splunk software to verify permission settings for lookups for users. You can change lookup table file permissions in the .meta
file for each lookup file, or Settings > Lookups > Lookup table files. By default, only users who have the admin or power role can write to a shared CSV lookup file.
For more information about creating lookups, see About lookups in the Knowledge Manager Manual.
For more information about App Key Value Store collections, see About KV store in the Admin Manual.
Appending results
Suppose you have an existing CSV file which contains columns A, D, and J. The results of your search are columns A, C, and J. If you run a search with outputlookup append=false
, then columns A, C, and J are written to the CSV file. Column D is not retained.
If you run a search with outputlookup append=true
, then only the columns that are currently in the file are preserved. In this example columns A and J are written to the CSV file. Column C is lost because it does not already exist in the CSV file. Column D is retained.
You can work around this issue by using the eval
command to add a column to your CSV file before you run the search. For example, if your CSV file is named foo you would do something like this:
| inputlookup foo | eval c=null | outputlookup foo append=false ....
Then run your search and pipe the results to the fields
command for the columns you want to preserve.
... | fields A C J | outputlookup append=true foo
Multivalued fields
When you output to a static lookup table, the outputlookup
command merges values in a multivalued field into single space-delimited value. This does not apply to a KV store collection.
Examples
1. Write to a lookup table using settings in the transforms.conf file
Write to usertogroup
lookup table as specified in the transforms.conf
file.
| outputlookup usertogroup
2. Write to a lookup file in a specific system or app directory
Write to users.csv
lookup file under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/lookups
or $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/*/lookups
.
| outputlookup users.csv
3. Specify not to override the lookup file if no results are returned
Write to users.csv
lookup file, if results are returned, under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/lookups
or $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/*/lookups
. Do not delete the users.csv
file if no results are returned.
| outputlookup users.csv override_if_empty=false
4. Write to a KV store collection
Write food inspection events for Shalimar Restaurant to a KV store collection called kvstorecoll
. This collection is referenced in a lookup table called kvstorecoll_lookup
.
index=sf_food_health sourcetype=sf_food_inspections name="SHALIMAR RESTAURANT" | outputlookup kvstorecoll_lookup
5. Write from a CSV file to a KV store collection
Write the contents of a CSV file to the KV store collection kvstorecoll
using the lookup table kvstorecoll_lookup
. This requires usage of both inputlookup
and outputlookup
commands.
| inputlookup customers.csv | outputlookup kvstorecoll_lookup
6. Update field values for a single KV store collection record
To update field values for a single KV store collection record you must specify the internal key ID for the record.
To learn how to obtain the internal key ID values of the records in a KV store collection, see "Return the internal key ID values for the KV store collection" in the Examples section of the inputlookup command.
You must use the inputlookup
, outputlookup
, and eval
commands to update field values for a single KV store collection record.
In the following example, the KV store collection record is indicated by the value of its internal key ID, the _key
field, and is updated with a new customer name and customer city. The record belongs to the KV store collection kvstorecoll
, which is accessed through the lookup table kvstorecoll_lookup
.
| inputlookup kvstorecoll_lookup
| search _key=544948df3ec32d7a4c1d9755
| eval CustName="Vanya Patel"
| eval CustCity="Springfield"
| outputlookup kvstorecoll_lookup append=True key_field=_key
The outputlookup command appends the search results to the specified lookup file, kvstorecoll_lookup
. The key_field
argument identifies the field in the collection that contains the key ID for the values that you want to append.
See also
outputcsv | outputtext |
This documentation applies to the following versions of Splunk® Enterprise: 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
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