# grep

The `filter_grep` filter plugin "greps" events by the values of specified fields.

## Example Configurations

`filter_grep` is included in Fluentd's core. No installation required.

```
<filter foo.bar>
  @type grep
  <regexp>
    key message
    pattern cool
  </regexp>
  <regexp>
    key hostname
    pattern ^web\d+\.example\.com$
  </regexp>
  <exclude>
    key message
    pattern uncool
  </exclude>
</filter>
```

The above example matches any event that satisfies the following conditions:

1. The value of the "message" field contains "cool"
2. The value of the "hostname" field matches

   `web<INTEGER>.example.com`.
3. The value of the "message" field does NOT contain "uncool".

Hence, the following events are kept:

```
{"message":"It's cool outside today", "hostname":"web001.example.com"}
{"message":"That's not cool", "hostname":"web1337.example.com"}
```

whereas the following examples are filtered out:

```
{"message":"I am cool but you are uncool", "hostname":"db001.example.com"}
{"hostname":"web001.example.com"}
{"message":"It's cool outside today"}
```

## Parameters

### \<regexp> directive (optional)

Specify filtering rule. This directive contains two parameters. This parameter is available since v0.12.38.

* key

The field name to which the regular expression is applied.

* pattern

The regular expression.

For example, the following filters out events unless the field "price" is a positive integer.

```
<regexp>
  key price
  pattern [1-9]\d*
</regexp>
```

The grep filter filters out UNLESS all `<regexp>`s are matched. Hence, if you have

```
<regexp>
  key price
  pattern [1-9]\d*
</regexp>
<regexp>
  key item_name
  pattern ^book_
</regexp>
```

unless the event's "item\_name" field starts with "book\_" and the "price" field is an integer, it is filtered out.

For OR condition, you can use `|` operator of regular expressions. For example, if you have

```
<regexp>
  key item_name
  pattern (^book_|^article)
</regexp>
```

unless the event's "item\_name" field starts with "boo&#x6B;*" or "article*", it is filtered out.

Learn regular expressions for more patterns.

### regexpN (optional)

This is deprecated parameter. Use `<regexp>` instead if you use v0.12.38 or later.

The "N" at the end should be replaced with an integer between 1 and 20 (ex: "regexp1"). regexpN takes two whitespace-delimited arguments.

Here is `regexpN` version of `<regexp>` example:

```
regexp1 price [1-9]\d*
regexp2 item_name ^book_
```

### \<exclude> directive (optional)

Specify filtering rule to reject events. This directive contains two parameters. This parameter is available since v0.12.38.

* key

The field name to which the regular expression is applied.

* pattern

The regular expression.

For example, the following filters out events whose "status\_code" field is 5xx.

```
<exclude>
  key status_code
  pattern ^5\d\d$
</exclude>
```

The grep filter filters out if any `<exclude>` is matched. Hence, if you have

```
<exclude>
  key status_code
  pattern ^5\d\d$
</exclude>
<exclude>
  key url
  pattern \.css$
</exclude>
```

Then, any event whose "status\_code" is 5xx OR "url" ends with ".css" is filtered out.

### excludeN (optional)

This is deprecated parameter. Use `<exclude>` instead if you use v0.12.38 or later.

The "N" at the end should be replaced with an integer between 1 and 20 (ex: "exclude1"). excludeN takes two whitespace-delimited arguments.

Here is `excludeN` version of `<exclude>` example:

```
exclude1 status_code ^5\d\d$
exclude2 url \.css$
```

If `<regexp>` and `<exclude>` are used together, both are applied.

## Learn More

* [Filter Plugin Overview](/0.12/filter.md)
* [record\_transformer Filter Plugin](/0.12/filter/record_transformer.md)

If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please [let us know](https://github.com/fluent/fluentd-docs-gitbook/issues?state=open). [Fluentd](http://www.fluentd.org/) is a open source project under [Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)](https://cncf.io/). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.


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