Splunk platform enables one to analyze, collect, plus and monitor machine-generated huge data from applications, websites, sensors, servers, and other devices. Moreover, Splunk software offers numerous functions to process & format data, including the strptime function. Let’s explore what is strptime function and how it’s used in Splunk.
What is the strptime function concerning Splunk?
The strptime is a function utilized to parse a string representation of a time and date into a timestamp value. Strptime stands for “string parse time” plus is utilized to convert the string representation of a time and date into a format that can be acknowledged by Splunk as a timestamp. This function takes two arguments which include a string representation of time and date, and the other argument is a format string that specifies the way date & time are shown in the string. The format string utilizes codes to state the various elements of time and date like the year, month, day, hour, minute, & second.
The format string is comprised of format codes that specify the elements of the time and date string. The format codes are the same as format codes utilized by the strftime function, although the strptime function utilizes lowercase letters instead of uppercase. Other common format codes utilized in the strptime function are:
- %m: two-digit month
- %Y: four-digit year
- %d: two-digit day
- %M: two-digit minute
- %z: time zone offset
- %H: two-digit hour (24-hour format)
- %S: two-digit second
Example of strptime function
An example of the way the strptime function is utilized in Splunk is to parse a string representation of a time and date.
| eval timestamp = strptime("2022-06-01 10:45:20", "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")From this example, the strptime function has the string “2022-06-01 10:45:20” as its first argument and format string “%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S” as the second argument. The function returns a timestamp that represents the time and date “2022-06-01 10:45:20“.
Use cases of strptime function
The strptime function is more used in Splunk to parse & convert time and date strings in log files & other machine-generated information into timestamps. This enables one to do time-based analysis & search operations in Splunk like fading finding all events which happened between two specific dates. Moreover, you can also find every event which occurred in a certain time range.
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Common use cases of strptime function
- Making time-based visualizations plus reports in Splunk.
- Formatting timestamps to human-readable time and date strings.
- Parsing & converting time and date strings in log files to timestamps.
- Performing time-based search and analysis operations in Splunk.
Conclusion
The strptime function is a suitable function in Splunk that enables one to convert and parse a string representation of time and date into a timestamp. The function is more used in Splunk to convert and parse time and date strings in log files plus other machine-generated data to timestamps, enabling one to do time-based search and analysis operations. Knowing the way the strptime function operates and the way to use it in Splunk helps one in getting more value from machine-generated information and making better decisions depending on that data.
