Find the structure of text messages
Find the structure of a list of text messages. The messages must contain data that is suitable to be ingested into Elasticsearch.
This API provides a starting point for ingesting data into Elasticsearch in a format that is suitable for subsequent use with other Elastic Stack functionality. Use this API rather than the find text structure API if your input text has already been split up into separate messages by some other process.
The response from the API contains:
- Sample messages.
- Statistics that reveal the most common values for all fields detected within the text and basic numeric statistics for numeric fields.
- Information about the structure of the text, which is useful when you write ingest configurations to index it or similarly formatted text. Appropriate mappings for an Elasticsearch index, which you could use to ingest the text.
All this information can be calculated by the structure finder with no guidance. However, you can optionally override some of the decisions about the text structure by specifying one or more query parameters.
If the structure finder produces unexpected results, specify the explain query parameter and an explanation will appear in the response.
It helps determine why the returned structure was chosen.
Query parameters
-
column_names
string If the format is
delimited, you can specify the column names in a comma-separated list. If this parameter is not specified, the structure finder uses the column names from the header row of the text. If the text does not have a header role, columns are named "column1", "column2", "column3", for example. -
delimiter
string If you the format is
delimited, you can specify the character used to delimit the values in each row. Only a single character is supported; the delimiter cannot have multiple characters. By default, the API considers the following possibilities: comma, tab, semi-colon, and pipe (|). In this default scenario, all rows must have the same number of fields for the delimited format to be detected. If you specify a delimiter, up to 10% of the rows can have a different number of columns than the first row. -
ecs_compatibility
string The mode of compatibility with ECS compliant Grok patterns. Use this parameter to specify whether to use ECS Grok patterns instead of legacy ones when the structure finder creates a Grok pattern. This setting primarily has an impact when a whole message Grok pattern such as
%{CATALINALOG}matches the input. If the structure finder identifies a common structure but has no idea of meaning then generic field names such aspath,ipaddress,field1, andfield2are used in thegrok_patternoutput, with the intention that a user who knows the meanings rename these fields before using it.Values are
disabledorv1. -
explain
boolean If this parameter is set to true, the response includes a field named
explanation, which is an array of strings that indicate how the structure finder produced its result. -
format
string The high level structure of the text. By default, the API chooses the format. In this default scenario, all rows must have the same number of fields for a delimited format to be detected. If the format is
delimitedand the delimiter is not set, however, the API tolerates up to 5% of rows that have a different number of columns than the first row.Values are
delimited,ndjson,semi_structured_text, orxml. -
grok_pattern
string If the format is
semi_structured_text, you can specify a Grok pattern that is used to extract fields from every message in the text. The name of the timestamp field in the Grok pattern must match what is specified in thetimestamp_fieldparameter. If that parameter is not specified, the name of the timestamp field in the Grok pattern must match "timestamp". Ifgrok_patternis not specified, the structure finder creates a Grok pattern. -
quote
string If the format is
delimited, you can specify the character used to quote the values in each row if they contain newlines or the delimiter character. Only a single character is supported. If this parameter is not specified, the default value is a double quote ("). If your delimited text format does not use quoting, a workaround is to set this argument to a character that does not appear anywhere in the sample. -
should_trim_fields
boolean If the format is
delimited, you can specify whether values between delimiters should have whitespace trimmed from them. If this parameter is not specified and the delimiter is pipe (|), the default value is true. Otherwise, the default value isfalse. -
timeout
string The maximum amount of time that the structure analysis can take. If the analysis is still running when the timeout expires, it will be stopped.
-
timestamp_field
string The name of the field that contains the primary timestamp of each record in the text. In particular, if the text was ingested into an index, this is the field that would be used to populate the
@timestampfield.If the format is
semi_structured_text, this field must match the name of the appropriate extraction in thegrok_pattern. Therefore, for semi-structured text, it is best not to specify this parameter unlessgrok_patternis also specified.For structured text, if you specify this parameter, the field must exist within the text.
If this parameter is not specified, the structure finder makes a decision about which field (if any) is the primary timestamp field. For structured text, it is not compulsory to have a timestamp in the text.
-
timestamp_format
string The Java time format of the timestamp field in the text. Only a subset of Java time format letter groups are supported:
adddEEEEEEEHHHhMMMMMMMMMMmmssXXXXXyyyyyyzzz
Additionally
Sletter groups (fractional seconds) of length one to nine are supported providing they occur afterssand are separated from thessby a period (.), comma (,), or colon (:). Spacing and punctuation is also permitted with the exception a question mark (?), newline, and carriage return, together with literal text enclosed in single quotes. For example,MM/dd HH.mm.ss,SSSSSS 'in' yyyyis a valid override format.One valuable use case for this parameter is when the format is semi-structured text, there are multiple timestamp formats in the text, and you know which format corresponds to the primary timestamp, but you do not want to specify the full
grok_pattern. Another is when the timestamp format is one that the structure finder does not consider by default.If this parameter is not specified, the structure finder chooses the best format from a built-in set.
If the special value
nullis specified, the structure finder will not look for a primary timestamp in the text. When the format is semi-structured text, this will result in the structure finder treating the text as single-line messages.
curl \
--request POST 'http://api.example.com/_text_structure/find_message_structure' \
--header "Authorization: $API_KEY" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '"{\n \"messages\": [\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:36,256][INFO ][o.a.l.u.VectorUtilPanamaProvider] [laptop] Java vector incubator API enabled; uses preferredBitSize=128\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,038][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-url]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,042][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [rest-root]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-core]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-redact]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [ingest-user-agent]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-monitoring]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-s3]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-analytics]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-ent-search]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-autoscaling]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [lang-painless]]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,059][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [lang-expression]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,059][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-eql]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:43,291][INFO ][o.e.e.NodeEnvironment ] [laptop] heap size [16gb], compressed ordinary object pointers [true]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:46,098][INFO ][o.e.x.s.Security ] [laptop] Security is enabled\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,227][INFO ][o.e.x.p.ProfilingPlugin ] [laptop] Profiling is enabled\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,259][INFO ][o.e.x.p.ProfilingPlugin ] [laptop] profiling index templates will not be installed or reinstalled\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,755][INFO ][o.e.i.r.RecoverySettings ] [laptop] using rate limit [40mb] with [default=40mb, read=0b, write=0b, max=0b]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,787][INFO ][o.e.d.DiscoveryModule ] [laptop] using discovery type [multi-node] and seed hosts providers [settings]\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:49,188][INFO ][o.e.n.Node ] [laptop] initialized\",\n \"[2024-03-05T10:52:49,199][INFO ][o.e.n.Node ] [laptop] starting ...\"\n ]\n}"'{
"messages": [
"[2024-03-05T10:52:36,256][INFO ][o.a.l.u.VectorUtilPanamaProvider] [laptop] Java vector incubator API enabled; uses preferredBitSize=128",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,038][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-url]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,042][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [rest-root]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-core]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-redact]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [ingest-user-agent]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-monitoring]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-s3]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-analytics]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-ent-search]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-autoscaling]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [lang-painless]]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,059][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [lang-expression]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:41,059][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-eql]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:43,291][INFO ][o.e.e.NodeEnvironment ] [laptop] heap size [16gb], compressed ordinary object pointers [true]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:46,098][INFO ][o.e.x.s.Security ] [laptop] Security is enabled",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,227][INFO ][o.e.x.p.ProfilingPlugin ] [laptop] Profiling is enabled",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,259][INFO ][o.e.x.p.ProfilingPlugin ] [laptop] profiling index templates will not be installed or reinstalled",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,755][INFO ][o.e.i.r.RecoverySettings ] [laptop] using rate limit [40mb] with [default=40mb, read=0b, write=0b, max=0b]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:47,787][INFO ][o.e.d.DiscoveryModule ] [laptop] using discovery type [multi-node] and seed hosts providers [settings]",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:49,188][INFO ][o.e.n.Node ] [laptop] initialized",
"[2024-03-05T10:52:49,199][INFO ][o.e.n.Node ] [laptop] starting ..."
]
}{
"num_lines_analyzed" : 22,
"num_messages_analyzed" : 22,
"sample_start" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:36,256][INFO ][o.a.l.u.VectorUtilPanamaProvider] [laptop] Java vector incubator API enabled; uses preferredBitSize=128\n[2024-03-05T10:52:41,038][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-url]\n",
"charset" : "UTF-8",
"format" : "semi_structured_text",
"multiline_start_pattern" : "^\\[\\b\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}[T ]\\d{2}:\\d{2}",
"grok_pattern" : "\\[%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp}\\]\\[%{LOGLEVEL:loglevel} \\]\\[.*",
"ecs_compatibility" : "disabled",
"timestamp_field" : "timestamp",
"joda_timestamp_formats" : [
"ISO8601"
],
"java_timestamp_formats" : [
"ISO8601"
],
"need_client_timezone" : true,
"mappings" : {
"properties" : {
"@timestamp" : {
"type" : "date"
},
"loglevel" : {
"type" : "keyword"
},
"message" : {
"type" : "text"
}
}
},
"ingest_pipeline" : {
"description" : "Ingest pipeline created by text structure finder",
"processors" : [
{
"grok" : {
"field" : "message",
"patterns" : [
"\\[%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp}\\]\\[%{LOGLEVEL:loglevel} \\]\\[.*"
],
"ecs_compatibility" : "disabled"
}
},
{
"date" : {
"field" : "timestamp",
"timezone" : "{{ event.timezone }}",
"formats" : [
"ISO8601"
]
}
},
{
"remove" : {
"field" : "timestamp"
}
}
]
},
"field_stats" : {
"loglevel" : {
"count" : 22,
"cardinality" : 1,
"top_hits" : [
{
"value" : "INFO",
"count" : 22
}
]
},
"message" : {
"count" : 22,
"cardinality" : 22,
"top_hits" : [
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:36,256][INFO ][o.a.l.u.VectorUtilPanamaProvider] [laptop] Java vector incubator API enabled; uses preferredBitSize=128",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,038][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-url]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,042][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [rest-root]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [ingest-user-agent]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-core]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,043][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-redact]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [lang-painless]]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [repository-s3]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-analytics]",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "[2024-03-05T10:52:41,044][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService ] [laptop] loaded module [x-pack-autoscaling]",
"count" : 1
}
]
},
"timestamp" : {
"count" : 22,
"cardinality" : 14,
"earliest" : "2024-03-05T10:52:36,256",
"latest" : "2024-03-05T10:52:49,199",
"top_hits" : [
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:41,044",
"count" : 6
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:41,043",
"count" : 3
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:41,059",
"count" : 2
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:36,256",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:41,038",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:41,042",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:43,291",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:46,098",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:47,227",
"count" : 1
},
{
"value" : "2024-03-05T10:52:47,259",
"count" : 1
}
]
}
}
}