The dropEvent() function can be used both during queries and within the parser pipeline. Depending on usage, the function has different behavior. If used during parsing, the event is dropped and removed entirely from the query output, meaning that the event data will not be stored in Falcon LogScale. If used within normal searching, the dropEvent() function is simply an alias for false - it behaves the same as false.

Note

The dropEvent() does not accept any arguments. The dropEvent() has different behaviour depending on usage in parser or in normal searches.

dropEvent() Examples

Dropping Events based on Parsing JSON Value

Query
logscale
case {
@rawstring="#*" 
| dropEvent();
* }
Introduction

When parsing incoming data, it is sometimes the case that the data includes 'commented' data, where,for example, the # character is used to identify comments in files rather than real data. This example removes those lines from the ingest process during parsing using the dropEvent() function to drop the entire event from the ingest pipeline.

Step-by-Step

  1. Starting with the source repository events

  2. logscale
    case {
@rawstring="#*" 
| dropEvent();

    Starts a case statement, with the first matching expression looking for the hash symbol in a line to indiciate that it could be removed, then dropping the entire event using dropEvent()

  3. logscale
    * }

    For all other lines, the case expression matches all other events and lets them through.

  4. Event Result set

Summary and Results

This query is used to remove data at ingestion, in this example data that matches a typical source construct (the comment). When used within the parser pipeline, the dropEvent() function ensures that the data is removed entirely from the query output, meaning that the event data will not be stored in Falcon LogScale.

Ignoring Commented Lines During Parsing by Dropping Events

Query
logscale
parseJson()
| case { someField = "some_value" 
| dropEvent(); * }
| parseTimestamp(field=@timestamp)
Introduction

The dropEvent() function is often used within parsers to drop events during parsing that do not need to be ingested. The following example shows how to filter events as part of a parser by matching a particular field value from being ingested.

Step-by-Step

  1. Starting with the source repository events

  2. logscale
    parseJson()

    Parses the incoming data to identify JSON values and converts them into a usable field.

  3. logscale
    | case { someField = "some_value" 
| dropEvent(); * }

    Starts a case statement, with the first matching expression identifying a field value in the extracted JSON field from the returned results. Then drops the event. This has the effect of terminating the parsing for this event, as there is no more data to be processed.

  4. logscale
    | parseTimestamp(field=@timestamp)

    Parses the timestamp from the @timestamp field for all other events that do not match the JSON value.

  5. Event Result set

Summary and Results

This query is used to drop events at ingestion. When used within the parser pipeline, the dropEvent() is a simple and practical way of eliminating events during the parsing of incoming data.