https://docs.fluentd.org/v0.12/articles/filter_record_transformer
The filter_record_transformer
filter plugin mutates/transforms incoming event streams in a versatile manner. If there is a need to add/delete/modify events, this plugin is the first filter to try.
Table of Contents
Example Configurations
filter_record_transformer
is included in Fluentd’s core. No installation required.
<filter foo.bar> @type record_transformer <record> hostname "#{Socket.gethostname}" tag ${tag} </record> </filter>
The above filter adds the new field “hostname” with the server’s hostname as its value (It is taking advantage of Ruby’s string interpolation) and the new field “tag” with tag value. So, an input like
{"message":"hello world!"}
is transformed into
{"message":"hello world!", "hostname":"db001.internal.example.com", "tag":"foo.bar"}
Here is another example where the field “total” is divided by the field “count” to create a new field “avg”:
<filter foo.bar> @type record_transformer enable_ruby <record> avg ${record["total"] / record["count"]} </record> </filter>
It transforms an event like
{"total":100, "count":10}
into
{"total":100, "count":10, "avg":"10"}
With the enable_ruby
option, an arbitrary Ruby expression can be used inside ${...}
. Note that the “avg” field is typed as string in this example. You may use auto_typecast true
option to treat the field as a float.
You can also use this plugin to modify your existing fields as
<filter foo.bar> @type record_transformer <record> message yay, ${record["message"]} </record> </filter>
An input like
{"message":"hello world!"}
is transformed into
{"message":"yay, hello world!"}
Finally, this configuration embeds the value of the second part of the tag in the field “service_name”. It might come in handy when aggregating data across many services.
<filter web.*> @type record_transformer <record> service_name ${tag_parts[1]} </record> </filter>
So, if an event with the tag “web.auth” and record {"user_id":1, "status":"ok"}
comes in, it transforms it into {"user_id":1, "status":"ok", "service_name":"auth"}
.
Parameters
<record> directive
Parameters inside <record>
directives are considered to be new key-value pairs:
<record> NEW_FIELD NEW_VALUE </record>
For NEW_FIELD and NEW_VALUE, a special syntax ${}
allows the user to generate a new field dynamically. Inside the curly braces, the following variables are available:
- The incoming event’s existing values can be referred by their field names. So, if the record is
{"total":100, "count":10}
, thenrecord["total"]=100
andrecord["count"]=10
. -
tag_parts[N]
refers to the Nth part of the tag. It works like the usual zero-based array accessor. -
tag_prefix[N]
refers to the first N parts of the tag. It works like the usual zero-based array accessor. -
tag_suffix[N]
refers to the last N parts of the tag. It works like the usual zero-based array accessor. -
tag
refers to the whole tag. -
time
refers to stringanized event time. -
hostname
refers to machine’s hostname. The actual value is result of Socket.gethostname.
enable_ruby (optional)
When set to true, the full Ruby syntax is enabled in the ${...}
expression. The default value is false.
With true
, additional variables could be used inside ${}
.
-
record
refers to the whole record. -
time
refers to event time as Time object, not stringanized event time.
Here is the examples:
jsonized_record ${record.to_json} avg ${record["total"] / record["count"]} formatted_time ${time.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')} escaped_tag ${tag.gsub('.', '-')} last_tag ${tag_parts.last} foo_${record["key"]} bar_${record["value"]}
auto_typecast (optional)
Automatically cast the field types. Default is false.
LIMITATION: This option is effective only for field values comprised of a single placeholder.
Effective Examples:
foo ${record["foo"]}
Non-Effective Examples:
foo ${record["foo"]}${record["bar"]} foo ${record["foo"]}bar foo 1
Internally, this keeps the original value type only when a single placeholder is used.
renew_record (optional)
By default, the record transformer filter mutates the incoming data. However, if this parameter is set to true, it modifies a new empty hash instead.
renew_time_key (optional, string type)
renew_time_key foo
overwrites the time of events with a value of the record field foo
if exists. The value of foo
must be a unix time.
keep_keys (optional, array type)
A list of keys to keep. Only relevant if renew_record
is set to true.
remove_keys (optional, array type)
A list of keys to delete.
Need more performance?
filter_record_modifier is light-weight and faster version of filter_record_transformer
. filter_record_modifier
doesn’t provide several filter_record_transformer
features, but it covers popular cases. If you need better performace for mutating records, consider filter_record_modifier
instead.
FAQ
What are the differences between ${record["key"]}
and ${key}
?
${key}
is short-cut for ${record["key"]}
. This is error prone because ${tag}
is unclear for event tag or record["tag"]
. So the ${key}
syntax is now deprecated for avoiding this problem. Don’t use ${key}
short-cut syntax on the production.
Since v0.14, ${key}
short-cut syntax is removed.